


The Power of LOVE

by DarkGreiga



Series: Megaman ZX: Era of MegaMen [4]
Category: Rockman ZX | Mega Man ZX
Genre: F/M, FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-19
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-05-18 05:38:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 28,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14846819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkGreiga/pseuds/DarkGreiga
Summary: Serpent was taken down and so was Albert, but would it stop the Maverick attacks? More enemies appeared and it was up to Vent, Aile, Ashe, and Grey to stop them. But what would happen if a certain feeling got in the way?





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another repost from my FFN under the same name. Please enjoy!

A few months had passed since Albert’s defeat, thanks to Ashe and Grey who put a stop to his plans before it was too late. They were still travelling along with the other Hunters, searching for treasures across the world. As for the Guardians, Vent and Aile, they were back to their normal lives.

Vent was happy to see Aile again after being separated for 3 years as he was assigned to do patrols on ground while Aile was assigned to protect the Guardian HQ. They were also assigned together to destroy the Model Ws that were separated after their battle with Serpent.

**_-Flashback-_ **

_“Vent and Aile, please come to the Control Room.” The voice from the speaker said._

_Vent, who was sitting on the deck, stood up and took the elevator down to the Control Room. As soon as the door to the Control Room opened, he saw that Aile was inside already._

_“Hi Vent!” Aile greeted with a smile._

_“O-Oh, hi!” Vent replied nervously._

_“Okay, it looks like you two are here.” The chair in front of them turned to the two, revealing the Guardian Commander, Prairie. “Ever since Serpent was taken down, the number of Maverick outbreaks has been increasing. Vent, I want you to go down there with the transerver and put a stop to them.” Vent nodded as Prairie turned to Aile. “Aile, you’ll stay here in the base. We’ll need your help just in case the Mavericks attack us from the air.”_

_“W-Wait! So you mean we’re doing this separately?” Vent asked as Prairie nodded._

_“Yes, but I’m not sure for how long. Is there a problem, Vent?” Prairie asked as Vent quickly turned to the door so they couldn’t see his blushing face._

_“N-No! I’m fine, I’m fine!” Vent replied quickly before he walked towards the door. He stopped in front of the door and gulped. “Aile… I’ll see you later…”_

_“I wonder what’s with him…” Aile commented while looking at the door before turning back to Prairie._

_Meanwhile, Vent walked slowly towards the transerver room and not noticing that the other Guardians were looking at him. He entered the room and hit a few buttons before he was teleported out of the room._

_Vent went out of the transerver room and found himself in the forest where he first met Prairie and the Guardians. He sat on the ground next to the transerver door and looked around. The place was really quiet as not many Mavericks were found in the forest. He leaned against the rocks and looked at the sky._

‘Aile… I wonder when we’ll meet again…’ _Vent thought before he closed his eyes._

_Three years had passed and Vent was called back to the HQ. When he entered the Control Room, he could barely recognize the figure that was standing there. Aile had longer hair and was tied up to a ponytail. Aile was also surprised to see Vent again. He also had long hair and he looked more like Giro, their long lost friend._

_“Vent? Is that you?” Aile asked with a surprised look._

_“A-Aile? You look… different…” Vent commented as he turned away to hide his blush._

_“I’m sorry, but I have to cut the reunion.” Prairie turned to the two Guardians. “We have located some Model Ws that were separated years ago. It seems like they also have caused some abnormalities in a few places. I want you two to destroy those Model Ws before they caused any more trouble.”_

_“Okay, roger that!” Vent saluted before he left along with Aile._

**_-End of Flashback-_ **


	2. A Night on the Deck

It was nighttime in the Guardian Base. The corridors were all so quiet as everyone had already gone to bed, except for Vent. He was sitting on the deck, his favorite place in the base while looking at the clouds in the sky. There was a certain someone that often kept him awake once being thought of. That someone was Aile.

_‘Aile… I wonder why… Every time I see her, my heart beats faster and my face feels so hot… Is this what people call ‘love’? But is it true that I actually like Aile?’_ Vent got up from the small platform he was sitting on and walked to the steel fence as he leaned on it while looking back at the clouds.

He looked at the clouds and saw the crescent moon. It looked so beautiful and it reminded him of his mother who was killed during the Mavericks raid years ago. Vent sadly closed his eyes and went back to the small platform.

“Mom, I wish that I could protect you from those Mavericks… If only I was stronger back then…” Vent whispered sadly while holding back his tears, not noticing that someone else was also on the deck.

“I miss my mother too you know…” Vent looked up and saw Aile with a sad smile on her face.

“A-Aile! W-What are you doing here!?” Vent asked, quickly wiping his tears from his face.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I went looking for you.” Aile replied.

_‘She was looking for me?’_ Vent looked at her with a surprised look on his face.

Aile noticed that Vent was staring at her for a while and turned to him. Vent quickly turned away as soon as she looked at him. Aile then noticed that there was some space left on the platform Vent was sitting on.

“Mind if I sit here for a while?” Aile asked as Vent slowly nodded. Aile sat next to him and there was a long pause.

Aile looked at Vent, who was still looking away from her. After a while, Vent turned and looked at the sky. Seeing the moonlight reflected on his face, Aile suddenly felt her heart thumped.

**POV Shift – Aile**

What’s this feeling? Why is my heart starting to beat faster? Is this what it feels like to be in love? But why now? I didn’t have such feelings when I was still working with Giro… Maybe it’s because that I spent more time with the boys rather than girls? I guess so… Giro hired more guys than girls…

But Vent… he sure is a nice guy and a great partner to me. I don’t know what would happen to me if Vent weren’t here… He’s the one that always keeps my spirit up when I’m depressed, and I really like his funny personality…

**POV Shift – Vent**

We’ve been friends ever since Boss rescued us from the Maverick attack back then. If I tell her the truth, will she still be my partner? But more importantly, will she accept me as a friend again?

This ‘love’ thing sure is complicated. I want my relationship with her to be more than just friends, but I also don’t want to lose her as a partner and a best friend. I’ve tried my best to keep her happy, but as a friend. I wonder if she feels the same about me…

I look at her, staring at the clouds sadly. Looking at her like this makes me kinda sad too… Suddenly, she turns to me and I almost fall down from the platform because of the shock.

“What are you staring at?” she asked softly.

“N-Nothing…” I couldn’t help it. She looks beautiful, especially when the moonlight shines on her face. She looks like… like an angel…

“Um… Vent?” I snap out of it as she waves her hand in front of my face. Her face is really close to me, but I’m too nervous to react to it. She then backs away and looks away from me. There is another long pause between us.

**POV Shift – Normal**

There was another long pause between the two brown haired Guardians. They didn’t dare to look at each other after what had just happened. Their faces were only inches apart and an accident could make them kiss!

Aile suddenly stood up with her head lowered and Vent looked at her. “I’m going to bed now, good night.” Aile walked towards the door heading inside the base, but then stopped and looked at Vent. “Prairie told me that Ashe and Grey are visiting tomorrow morning.”

“Aw man! That troublemaker is visiting? I think it’s better that it’s just Grey that’s visiting, and not her!” Vent complained as Aile giggled after seeing her friend’s reaction. When she was about to enter the base, she noticed that Vent was walking behind her with a serious look. “Aile… I-I have something to tell you…”

Aile turned to see him rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “What is it?”

Vent closed his eyes to gather up some courage. “Aile… I… I…” Vent curled his hands into fists, but then loosing them up and sighed. “Never mind about that… I don’t think it’s that important…”

Aile just shrugged and continued walking inside the base. Vent paused in his place for a moment before he walked back to his room, which was next to Aile’s. He went inside his room and threw himself onto his bed.

_‘Man, I blew it! I had my chance to tell her, but I blew it! Why is this so hard!?’_ Vent thought angrily.

Meanwhile, Aile was lying on her bed in her room. She put her arms under her head and began recalling the event with Vent on the deck. She blushed as she recalled the event when her face was really close to Vent’s.

_‘Stupid, stupid, stupid! I shouldn’t have done that!’_ Aile thought as she covered her head with her pillow. She paused for a while before she put her pillow away and held it in her arms. _‘That reaction… does that mean that he likes me too?’_

Aile paused again for a while before she eventually fell asleep.


	3. A Friendly Visit

The next morning, Vent lazily got up from his bed and got dressed before he went outside. When he opened the door, he saw someone that he didn’t even want to see surprised him.

“Morning Vent!” Ashe yelled as Vent jumped back in surprise. Ashe laughed after she saw the Guardian’s reaction. “Did I scare you?”

“Ashe! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Vent yelled angrily as he started chasing her around the base.

Aile was walking from Fleuve’s lab when she saw Ashe being chased by Vent. Aile quickly sidestepped before they crashed and let the two pass. She sighed and smiled, watching Ashe being chased around by Vent.

A few minutes later, the two of them had already stopped running and were gasping for breath. Aile and Grey got out from the Control Room and approached the tired Guardian and Hunter.

“Hi… Aile…” Ashe said while gasping for breath.

“I’ll… I’ll get you… next time…” Vent pointed his finger at Ashe before he collapsed on the ground near Aile’s feet. “And I’m beat…”

The three laughed at him as Aile helped him up. “Are you okay Vent?” she asked as Vent nodded.

“I’m fine, just tired…” Vent replied.

A few minutes later, Vent and Aile gave the Hunters a tour around the base. When they were walking in one of the corridors, Ashe went beside Aile.

“Hey Aile, how’s it going with you and Vent?” Ashe asked. The two Guardians paused for a moment and lowered their heads. They looked at each other for a second and turned away with flustered faces.

“A-Ashe! It’s not like that, okay!?” Aile replied angrily while Vent just stayed silent.

“Come on! I know that you two like each other!” Ashe mocked as Vent and Aile ignored her. “Vent and Aile, sitting on a tree. K-I-S-S-“ Ashe stopped singing when she saw Vent and Aile turned to her angrily.

“SHUT UP!!!” they yelled in unison.

Their yelling echoed throughout the base and Prairie suddenly ran to them.

“What happened here?” Prairie asked with a worried look on her face.

“Nothing’s wrong, Prairie! We’re just joking around!” Ashe lied, but was elbowed by Grey. “Ow! What was that for?”

“She’s the commander here! You have to call her by her proper title!” Grey whispered.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Prairie replied with a smile before turning to Vent and Aile. “Vent, Aile, please be nice to our guests.” Prairie turned back to Ashe and Grey. “I’d better go back to the Control room now. I hope you two enjoy your time here.” Prairie smiled for the last time before walking back to the Control Room.

After Prairie was out of sight, Vent and Aile glared at the now freaked out Ashe. “Come on you two! It was just a joke!”

“Okay, fine! Let’s just go to the next area!” Vent replied, still annoyed.

“But where should we go next?” Aile asked. Before Vent could answer, his stomach growled. “I guess your stomach knows where we should go next!” Aile commented and giggled.

“Well… I haven’t eaten breakfast you know… Thanks to you-know-who…” Vent replied as he blushed in embarrassment. “I wonder what they’re having in the cafeteria today…”

The four of them walked to the cafeteria and saw a banner for the special menu of the day. They were serving steak, Vent’s favorite food.

“Hey Vent, looks like they’re serving your favorite…” Aile turned to Vent, but he had already run to get some steak.

“Is he always like this?” Ashe asked as Aile nodded.

“Steak, huh? I’ve never heard of it. I guess it’s worth to try!” Grey commented as the remaining three walked to order some food.

After they had got their food, they took a seat in the corner of the cafeteria. When Aile was about to put her food on the table next to Ashe, Ashe suddenly stood up and pushed Aile to the seat next to Vent.

“Don’t leave your boyfriend alone!” Ashe whispered.

“Ashe!” Aile whispered back before noticing that Grey had already put his food on the table next to Vent. Aile turned back to the empty seat, but was stopped by Ashe.

“Move!” Ashe ordered Grey.

“Hey, I’m here first!” Grey denied.

“Move it or ELSE!” Ashe replied angrily as Grey took his food and went to the empty seat next to Ashe. “Here you go, Aile!”

Aile glared angrily before taking her seat next to Vent. Vent didn’t seem to noticed their argument earlier as he was busy eating. Aile looked at Vent for a moment before she dug into her meal. Because Vent was starving, he finished his meal first. When he was going to get up, his stomach suddenly hurt and he sat back down.

“My stomach… hurts…” Vent said as he put his head on the table and rubbed his stomach.

“You shouldn’t eat so fast, even if you’re hungry!” Aile scolded, but got no response from Vent and his body stopped moving. “Vent? Are you okay?” Aile shook his body.

“I think… I need to go to the bathroom…” Vent ran out of the cafeteria and entered the bathroom. The three looked at the direction Vent went to and sweatdropped.

“Poor Vent… You should have told him sooner!” Ashe commented.

“W-What’s that supposed to mean?” Aile asked as her face started to turn red.

“Well, isn’t it obvious? You like Vent right? I can see that you’re blushing!” Ashe mocked as Aile’s face turned even redder. “Since he’s not here, I think you can talk about it right?”

“Ashe… but only if you promise me not to tell him, I’ll talk…” Aile gave up as Ashe smiled slyly, before turning to Grey. Grey noticed her staring at him.

“Okay, I got it… Girl talk, no boys allowed…” Grey moved away to the table a bit farther away from them.

“Okay, tell me everything!” Ashe leaned forward as Aile started to feel uneasy.

Aile closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she started talking. “Okay, you got me! I actually like him because he always treats me nicely. Happy now?”

“Nope, not yet! I still have one more question! Have you and Vent… you know… kissed?” Ashe asked as Aile felt her heart thumped again.

“N-No! W-We haven’t! Could you please stop asking me such questions!?” Aile denied as her face became redder and redder.

Ashe approached her from the side and whispered to her ear. “But you have to, sooner or later!”

The girls continued arguing, but suddenly stopped when Vent came to sight.

“Okay, I’m done… Where should we head to next?” Vent asked. “And where’s Grey?”

“I’m right behind you!” Grey replied.

“Okay, let’s get going then!” Ashe exclaimed cheerfully, as if nothing happened before. The four of them left the cafeteria and continued with the tour around the base.


	4. Vent’s Nightmare

Vent, Aile, Ashe, and Grey travelled around the base until it was late. Ashe let out a yawn as she and Grey followed Vent and Aile to the Control Room. Aile decided to come into the Control Room while the others waited outside.

“Prairie, do you happen to have some extra rooms in the base for Ashe and Grey to sleep in?” Aile asked as Prairie turned to face her.

“I’m sorry, Aile… We have no extra rooms left in the base. If you want, they could stay in yours and Vent’s rooms. I believe that we kept some mattress in your rooms.” Prairie replied.

“Okay, I’ll tell them then.” Aile walked out of the Control Room and told the others.

“Alright Aile, it looks like you and I are going to be roommates!” Ashe commented as she and Aile headed towards Aile’s room.

“Okay, I’ll stay in your room then. It’s a good thing that I don’t have to share a room with Ashe…” Grey commented as he and Vent went to their room.

In Vent’s room, the boys could hear that Aile and Ashe were chatting. Vent had already changed into his pajamas while Grey lied down on the mattress and looked at the ceiling.

“Those girls surely talked a lot, don’t you think?” Grey asked as Vent nodded.

“Yeah, but I don’t think that really bothers me. I’m going to bed now, good night.” Vent lied down on his bed.

“Good night, Vent.” Grey replied, but the brown haired Guardian had already fallen asleep. _‘Wow, that was fast…’_

_Vent’s dream_

_Vent suddenly found himself floating in a big dark room. He looked around, but he saw that no one but himself there._

_“Is this my dream?”_

_“…elp…”_

_“What was that? I think I heard a voice…”_

_“Help…”_

_Vent tried moving towards the voice he heard, but he felt that he stayed floating in place._

_“Help me…” the voice became clearer to Vent. He tried moving again, but it didn’t feel like he was still in his place again._

_“That voice… I know that voice! Aile…?” Vent moved again, and this time he saw a familiar floating figure. “Aile! Are you okay!? What are you doing in this place!?”_

_“Vent… don’t come any closer… It’s a trap…” Aile replied weakly._

_“Aile! I don’t care if it is a trap! I will rescue you, no matter what!” Vent moved closer to her, but suddenly stopped when he saw something appeared behind Aile. It was a big reploid with a dark red armor. “W-Who are you!?”_

_“You don’t remember me!? Hmph, a crappy copy of me shouldn’t exist! You don’t even remember your original self!” the dark red armored reploid replied. The reploid had long blonde hair and a dark red helmet. He extended one of his hands and caught Aile in his hand._

_“Hey! Let go of my friend!” Vent yelled angrily._

_“Let her go?” the red armored reploid chuckled. “After all this years, it looks like you have gained some sense of humor… But do you think I’ll just let her go like that because you said so?” the reploid gave Vent a cold stare. “You have taken everything from me… and now, I’ll take what’s really precious to you…”_

_“You won’t get away with this!” Vent moved closer to the reploid, but he took out a dark grey buster and aimed at him. He fired the buster shot straight to Vent’s head, but Vent managed to dodge the shot and it hit Vent’s left arm._

_“ARGH!!!” Vent screamed in pain as he held his bruised left arm. He saw that blood started coming out from the bruise. The red armored reploid watched him screaming in pain as he laughed evilly._

_“You think that you could save your so called friends with that much power? Don’t get your hopes too high! Don’t even think about saving your friends if you can’t even beat me! A mere copy like you will never be able to beat me, your original body!” the reploid commented before laughed evilly again._

_Vent saw that the reploid’s grip on Aile became tighter and tighter. Vent glared angrily at the reploid as his friend was being held tightly in his hand._

_“What’s that? Do you actually hate me?” the reploid stared at Vent for a moment and let out and evil grin. “Do it, hate me! That’s what makes you so powerful! Hold grudge against me!”_

_“LET. HER. GO!!!” Vent yelled angrily as the reploid opened up his hand and let Aile float above his hand._

_Vent tried to reach her with his right hand, but the reploid pulled out a purple colored saber and cut Aile’s body in half, turning her into bright pink and purple particles._

_“No… Aile… No, no, this can’t be happening to me…” Vent grasped some of the particles, but they soon disappeared when Vent opened up his hand. “AILE!!!”_

_“That’s it… the rage… the anger… let them all out!!!” the reploid said with an evil grin._

_Vent grasped more of the particles as his tears started to fall. The particles soon disappeared again, leaving him all alone as the reploid disappeared from his sight with an evil laughter._

_“NOOO!!!”_

“NO!!!” Vent opened his eyes and got up suddenly. He suddenly noticed that he was still in his room. _‘Good… it was just a nightmare…’_

“Vent, are you okay dude?” Grey asked, apparently was woken up by his sudden yelling.

“Oh, it’s okay… I just had a nightmare…” Vent replied as cold sweat started to drop from his face. Grey just shrugged and went back to sleep.

_‘That nightmare… I don’t think it was just some ordinary nightmare… That red armored reploid… Who is he, and why did he call me ‘his copy’?’_ Vent thought and held his left arm which was shot in his nightmare. He felt something wet, and looked at his left arm. It was actually bleeding. The blood came out from the exact same bruise that he saw in his nightmare. _‘I knew it! Something’s definitely not right about this… I hope Prairie knows about this thing…’_ Vent looked at the door in his room before he went back to bed.

As soon as Vent closed his eyes, Grey interrupted. “What kind of nightmare did you have anyway? I bet it’s something that involves Aile being kidnapped or something and had you woken up!”

“Yeah… sort of…” Vent lied. “What time is it anyway?” There was a small pause before Grey answered.

“It’s still midnight… Let’s just get back to sleep…”

“Okay then…”


	5. A New Enemy Appears!

The next morning, Grey woke up and saw that Vent wasn’t in his bed. He suddenly noticed that the bathroom door opened, revealing Vent fully dressed but had dark colored bags under his eyes.

“Morning…” Vent said tiredly and let out a big yawn.

“What is it? Couldn’t sleep last night?” Grey asked as Vent nodded slowly.

“Yeah… I couldn’t sleep after I had that strange nightmare…” Vent replied and yawned again before he headed towards the door.

Vent walked along the corridor and took the elevator up to the Control Room. When he entered the room, he was greeted by Prairie.

“Good morning Vent!” Prairie greeted, but then noticed the bags under his eyes. “Didn’t get enough sleep last night?”

“Maybe you could call it that way… I had a very strange nightmare and I couldn’t sleep afterwards…” Vent let out another yawn. “Sorry…”

“What kind of nightmare?” Prairie asked.

“You told me before that you’re a reploid from the era when humans and reploids were enemies, right?” Vent asked as Prairie nodded. “Do you know about a dark red armored reploid with blonde hair sticking out from his dark red helmet? He also had a dark grey buster gun and a purple saber.”

Prairie’s eyes widen after hearing Vent’s story. She paused for a while before letting out a fake smile. “Don’t worry Vent, I’m sure it was just a normal nightmare. About the reploid, I’m not sure if I’ve met someone like that.”

“No Prairie, I really think that this nightmare could be a sign for something. That reploid shot me in the left arm and left a bruise in that nightmare. When I woke up, I checked my arm and the bruise was there.” Vent showed the bruise.

Prairie gasped and turned away after she had seen the bruise. _‘No… this can’t be… If he’s alive… then he could be too…’_ Prairie turned back to Vent. “Vent… I think I know who it is…” Vent hid his bruise under his blue jacket’s sleeves. “He is Omega, the reploid that once appeared in the Elf Wars years ago… He used to be a giant reploid that was created by someone named Dr. Weil.”

“What happened next?” Vent asked.

“I’m sorry Vent, but that’s all that I wanted to talk about…” Prairie replied. The door suddenly opened, revealing Aile along with Ashe and Grey behind her. “It looks like everyone’s here…”

“What is it? Another mission?” Ashe complained, but got elbowed by Grey and Aile.

“Yes, I’m picking up some strange energy readings from the ocean where the Ouroboros crashed.” Prairie turned to Vent. “Vent, this mission might have some connections with the nightmare you had last night.” Vent nodded and Prairie turned back to the others. “I want you all to be careful out there. The energy reading is different from the ones we’ve got before. I’ll send you the coordinates to the transerver and make sure that you carry some supplies for underwater survival that have been prepared in the transerver room.”

The four of them walked out of the room and headed for the transerver room, except for Vent.

“Vent, where are you going?” Aile asked.

“I… uh… left something in my room… I’ll be right back!” Vent quickly dashed away to the elevator and went up, instead of going down to his room. Vent ran into the medic wing and found Muguet and Rose there. “Hi Muguet! Do you have some bandages?”

“I think I still have some left. Did someone get hurt?” Muguet asked with a worried look.

“Well… no, it’s just in case I might need it in my missions…” Vent lied as Rose handed him the bandages.

“H-Here you go…” Rose whispered, but Vent ignored her and quickly barged out of the room.

Vent took the elevator down and ran to the transerver door. When the door opened, he saw that everyone had already finished packing their supplies. “Sorry if I took so long…”

“It’s okay, we’re going to wait for you anyway…” Aile smiled at him and tossed a bag of supplies to him. “Here, I’ve packed some supplies for you!”

“Uh… thanks…” Vent replied nervously.

“Don’t mention it! After all, that’s what friends do right?” Aile smiled at him.

“Yeah… friends…” Vent replied as the four of them got into the transerver.

Aile hit a few buttons and the four of them were teleported away. They appeared on the bottom of the ocean, near the place where the Ouroboros had crashed. They pulled out their mini oxygen tank so they could breathe underwater before they started walking closer to the crash site.

Vent had already had his bruised arm bandaged while he was running to the transerver door. The bruise wasn’t that big, but Vent winced every time he moved his left arm. He tried hiding the bruise so that Aile and the others wouldn’t be worried about him.

The four of them walked closer to the rubble which was formerly the Ouroboros. They suddenly stopped walking when they noticed that something was under the rubble.

“Guys… did you see that rubble just moved for a second?” Grey asked.

“Yeah, I saw that too…” Vent replied as the girls kept watching the rubble until they saw something came out of the rubble.

“W-What’s that?” Ashe asked.

“I’m not sure… but I believe I saw something red coming out of the rubble…” Aile looked closer at the rubble.

“Is it Albert?” Grey asked.

“No, I don’t think that’s him. I saw him exploded after we have defeated him.” Ashe replied as the four of them approached the rubble carefully.

The rubble shook again and a figure stood up, facing away from the Guardians and Hunters. Vent winced after he saw the figure. He remembered him clearly. His long blonde hair came out from the back of his dark red helmet and his dark red armor. The figure turned to them with cold eyes and raised his purple saber.

“You… the one that I saw in my nightmare…” Vent looked at him with horror. “Omega…”


	6. Confrontation with an Old Enemy

The four of them stared at the red armored reploid as he approached them.

“Vent, do you know him?” Aile asked.

“I saw him… He was in my dream last night…” Vent stared at the red reploid with horror. “He is… Omega…”

“It looks like you are the one, the one I’ve searching for centuries… My fake body, my copy…” Omega commented as Vent continued staring at him with horror.

“W-What do you mean?” Grey asked.

“What’s this? I thought that you have become stronger after all those years, but you brought some help? Pathetic!” Omega said angrily.

“What do you want from me? I’ll give you anything you want for, as long as you stay away from my friends! We haven’t done anything wrong to you!” Vent replied angrily as Omega raised his purple saber under Vent’s neck.

“You still don’t remember, do you!? You have beaten me over and over, taking away all my glories!” Omega leaned closer as Vent slowly backed away.

“That’s not me! I’m 18 years old now!” Vent denied and tried to remove Omega’s saber away from his neck, but Omega held his saber tighter, wounding Vent’s hands.

“Yes, it’s you! If you don’t believe me, why don’t you just ask that Biometal of yours?” Omega removed his saber from Vent’s neck and smiled evilly.

“The Biometal?” Vent asked himself as Model Z came out of his pocket.

_“We’ve meet again, Omega! I’ve survived from destruction more than once, so I don’t think you’ll be able to destroy me this time!”_ Model Z floated in front of Vent, facing Omega.

“Why you…” Omega growled angrily. “This time, I won’t make any mistakes! I’ll destroy you, once and for all!” Omega pulled out his saber again and charged at Model Z.

Model Z floated away as Vent dodged to the side and Omega’s saber hit the ground next to him, leaving a big mark on the ground.

_‘Ah! He’s really strong!’_ Vent thought as he stared at the mark. Model X and Model Z suddenly floated in front of him.

_“Vent! We have no choice but to fight him!”_ Model X stated as Vent nodded and took the two Biometals in his hands.

“ROCK ON!” Vent transformed into Model ZX and faced Omega. Omega stared at Vent for a moment and laughed. “What’s so funny?”

“You think that kind of power is enough to defeat me?” Omega commented before he suddenly disappeared.

_‘Where did he go?’_ Vent thought as he scanned the whole area.

“Vent! Behind you!” Aile told Vent as she saw Omega appeared behind Vent, his saber ready in his hand. Before Vent could even block the attack, Omega swung his saber and cut through Vent’s armor and hurting his back.

_‘If this keeps up like this, Vent won’t stand a chance!’_ Aile thought as she saw Vent got hit by Omega again. Aile pulled out two Biometals identical to Model X and Model Z. “ROCK ON!”

Ashe looked at her friend as she had just transformed. “Hey Aile, how come you have the same Biometals as Vent’s?”

“Fleuve made a copy of them so we could Rock On separately. I’ve just got it from Fleuve yesterday.” Aile replied and pulled out her ZX buster, aiming it at Omega. “Ashe, I want you and Grey to head back to the Guardian Base and get some help! We won’t be able to win like this!”

“Okay, you got it!” Ashe said before she turned to Grey. “Come on, Grey! We can ask Fleuve if he could make a copy of Model A too!”

“Okay, whatever…” Grey just shrugged and followed Ashe back to the base.

Aile looked at the leaving Hunters before she turned back to Omega. “Omega, let’s make this match two against one!”

Vent stared at her in disbelief, but then saw determination in her eyes. “Aile…”

“Two against one? I wonder how weak you are now!” Omega commented as Vent growled angrily.

“You’re wrong Omega! She’s not weak at all! Say that again and I’ll destroy you!” Vent charged at Omega, but he disappeared again. He looked around, but omega was nowhere to be seen. When he turned to Aile, he saw that Omega appeared beside her.

Aile noticed Omega and quickly dodged out of the way before his saber could hit her. Aile charged her ZX buster and aimed it at Omega’s chest, knocking him back. Omega rubbed his chest where Aile had shot him and smiled evilly.

“It looks like I underestimated you… But that doesn’t mean that you can beat me that easily next time! I’ll give you some more time, and you will have a rematch with me!” Omega pointed his purple saber at Vent.

“Why him? I’m the one who knocked you back!” Aile protested as Omega chuckled.

“Foolish human… I want him, because he is… my real copy!” Omega let out one last evil laugh before he disappeared, leaving the two brown haired Guardians.

Aile had transformed back to her human form while Vent was still frozen in his place. Aile walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Aile was about to give him some encouraging words, but Vent spoke up first.

“If I can’t beat him now, I won’t stand a chance against him alone in the rematch!” Vent spaced out for a while, not noticing that Aile was already in front of him.

Aile lowered her head and put her hands on his shoulders. “I believe in you, Vent. I believe that you can beat him.”

“Huh?” Vent looked at Aile, who still had her head lowered. Aile tighten her grip on Vent’s shoulder which made him wince in pain.

“Vent, are you okay?” Aile asked worriedly, but then noticed that blood started to come out from Vent’s upper left arm. “Vent… your left arm… Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“Sorry Aile… but I don’t want any of you to be worried…” Vent put a hand over his wounded arm and looked at Aile. “Let’s just ask Prairie to transfer us out of here.”

Aile stared at him for a moment before she tried contacting Prairie through her communicator. The two of them teleported back to the base. Vent went to the medic wing and got his wounds taken care of by Rose and Muguet. Meanwhile, Aile just walked straight to her room and lied on her bed.

_‘Vent… I wonder if he could take Omega down by himself…’_


	7. Aile’s Solo Mission

A few days had passed since Vent, Aile, Ashe, and Grey met up with Omega. Ashe and Grey often visited the base, checking on Vent who had been training really hard. Aile rarely saw him in bed or on the deck at night, but always saw him in the training room.

Aile had just finished doing some requests from the townspeople and was going to have lunch together with Vent. She went to the training room and saw that Vent was still training, as usual. He swung his ZX saber at the Galleon holograms, making the holograms disappear one by one.

_‘Vent… Ever since the day we met with Omega, he had been training almost non stop. Vent, you have to rest for a while, or you’ll end up hurting yourself…’_ Aile thought as he looked at Vent through the training room’s window.

Ashe walked over to the ponytailed Guardian and put a hand on her shoulder. “Aile, is he always like this since that day?”

Aile turned and saw Ashe there. She slowly nodded before looking back to Vent. “Yeah… I asked the Guardian that was on duty last night and he told me that Vent hadn’t left the training room for days…”

“Wow… I didn’t know that he was that extreme…” Ashe commented.

Vent continued swinging his saber, but soon his movements slowed down. He swung at the Galleon hologram that was behind him before he fell to his knees and collapsed on the ground. He transformed back to his human form as he had already exceeded his limits.

“VENT!” without thinking, Aile ran into the training room and ran over to Vent. She put his head on her lap looked at him worriedly.

“Aile… please… I have to train…” Vent said weakly as he tried to get up, but Aile held him back down.

“No Vent! You have to rest! Your body needs some more rest!” Aile held him back as he continued to struggle. “Please Vent…”

Vent stopped struggling and paused for a moment. “Fine…”

Aile helped Vent to his room and laid him on his bed. She looked at his face for a moment and gently stroked his hair. “Take a rest, Vent…”

Aile left his room and found Prairie in front of her room. Prairie noticed that Aile came out of Vent’s room and came over to her. Prairie saw the worry on Aile face after she had left the room. “Is something the matter?”

“Vent went overboard with his training and collapsed in the training room. It’s a good thing that I was there…” Aile explained and sighed.

“Oh, it’s not good… I was going to assign you and Vent to do some investigation. There have been some strange activities in Area E, where the power plant is.” Prairie explained.

Aile looked at Vent’s room, and looked back to Prairie. “I’ll do it on my own, Prairie. Vent needs a lot of rest right now.”

“Are you sure? I’m also picking up some strange readings there, similar to Omega’s energy reading.” Prairie asked as Aile nodded.

“It’s okay, I’ll be fine. I’ll be heading to the power plant then…” Aile walked towards the elevator to the transerver room. Prairie watched her as she left to the elevator.

Aile teleported to the power plant and saw that the plant was active again. The last time she and Vent came here, the power plant had already been shut down.

_‘Now that’s just really strange… I wonder who got the plant activated again…’_ Aile went deeper into the plant, but didn’t spot any Mavericks or workers there. The machines were running, but she didn’t see anyone there.

She went to a room with giant moving gears, and spotted something in a corner. She walked over to it and examined it.

_‘This looks like a reploid arm… and it was cut off from the body with something sharp…’_ Aile picked the arm and suddenly remembered something. _‘Could this be… the work of Omega? If so, what is he doing here?’_ Aile suddenly heard something fell down from the ceiling.

Aile approached the source of the sound and saw a body. A dead reploid, with his head cut off. She looked up at the ceiling and saw a secret passage.

“Okay, there’s a way to reach the passage!” Aile pulled out her Biometals. “ROCK ON!” Aile transformed into her ZX form and dash jumped into the passage.

She climbed up the stairs and saw more of the dead reploids. They all had cuts on their body. _‘There’s no mistake… It’s him!’_

“Are you surprised?”

Aile turned around, and saw that Omega was standing behind her. “Omega! I knew it! You’re the one who killed off those reploids!”

“Well, it looks like I’ve been caught!” Omega shrugged and grinned evilly. “Now, it’s your turn!”

Omega charged at Aile, but she quickly dodged out of the way. She pulled out her ZX buster and was about to shot him in the chest again, but Omega pulled out his dark grey buster and shot the ZX buster off her hand.

“The same trick won’t work on me twice! Give it up, girl!” Omega commented as he put away his buster.

“No, I won’t give up to someone like you!” Aile pulled out her ZX saber and charged at Omega, but Omega easily blocked her saber with his.

“Now, now… why don’t you just stay out of this!?” Omega knocked Aile’s saber to his side and hit Aile’s head with the back of his saber. Aile fainted and collapsed on the ground next to Omega. He looked at her as she reverted to her human form.

Omega chuckled before looking at the window. “It looks like you don’t have any choice but to lose if I have the girl as a hostage… Lord Weil, I’m sure you would be pleased to have me as your loyal servant…” Omega grabbed Aile by the back of her coat and got ready to teleport away.

“I’ll be waiting for you, Chosen One…” Omega laughed evilly before the two of them teleported out of the power plant.


	8. Kidnapped!?

It had been a while since Aile left to investigate the power plant, but she had contacted the Guardians about what she had found out. Prairie became worried that something might happen to her and tried contacting her, but got no response.

_‘Aile… please be safe…’_ Prairie thought and took the intercom. “To the leader of the search team, please come to the Control Room.”

Prairie waited for a moment and a Guardian came in. “What seems to be the problem, Commander?” the Guardian saluted.

“I want your team to search for Aile in the power plant in Area E and make sure she’s okay. She hadn’t reported in since she went there, so I got worried.” Prairie explained.

“We’ll be on our way!” the Guardian saluted again before he left the room.

A few minutes later, the search team teleported into the power plant. They searched around the plant, but there were no signs of Aile. They only found dead reploids lying everywhere in one of the rooms with cuts on their bodies. The leader gathered his members, but no one found Aile. He sighed before he reported in to Prairie.

“Commander, there are no signs of Miss Aile anywhere… We’ve searched around the plant, but we only found some dead reploids with cuts all over their bodies.” The leader explained.

On the other side, Prairie sighed sadly and got even more worried. “It’s okay then… For the time being, just go back to the base…”

“Roger!” the leader was about to end his report, but suddenly another one of his team members ran over to him while carrying something in his hand.

“Sir, I’ve found this data disk on the floor where the dead reploids are!” the Guardian handed over the data disk to his leader.

“Commander, I think we’ve found something! It’s a data disk that might contain something about Miss Aile’s whereabouts!” the leader reported.

“Okay, take it back here. We will analyze the data disk here.” Prairie replied before she cut the connection.

The whole search team teleported back to the base and the leader handed the data disk to Prairie.

“Thank you. You and your team members can rest for now.” Prairie took the data disk and smiled as the leader saluted and left the room. Prairie inserted the data disk and began analyzing it. After a while, she finished with the analysis and Vent suddenly came into the Control Room.

“Prairie, do you have any missions for me?” Vent asked before he let out a big yawn. “Sorry about that…” Prairie turned to him with a worried look.

“Vent… Aile’s missing…” Prairie told the brown haired Guardian.

“W-WHAT!?” Vent yelled in surprise. “B-But how!? When!?”

“I sent her to the power plant and I hadn’t got any reports from her after a few hours since she left. I’ve sent the search team there, but Aile was nowhere to be seen. They only found some dead reploids and a data disk. I’ve analyzed it and it turned out to be a video message.” Prairie explained as Vent sadly lowered his head.

“Prairie… please play the video message…” Vent looked back at Prairie. She pressed a button and a screen appeared in front of Vent. An image of Omega suddenly appeared on the screen. “Omega!”

“Hello there, Chosen One! Or should I say… my copy!” Omega laughed as Vent growled angrily. “Listen now, I have your friend here with me… If you want her back, you have to come here alone for our rematch! Don’t bother bringing other people because if you do, you don’t even want to know what I’ll do to her!”

“No! Aile!” Vent yelled angrily as Omega laughed evilly.

“It’s your choice, boy! I’ll be waiting for you in Area N…” Omega ended the recording with another evilly laugh.

Prairie looked at the brown haired Guardian as his eyes were filled with anger. “Vent… do you want to go?”

Vent looked at Prairie angrily. “Are you stupid!? I’ll go there and tear him apart!” Vent raised his fists in anger, but then he lowered them again. “I’m sorry Prairie… I just… I don’t want to lose anyone else!”

“It’s okay, Vent… but you shouldn’t be so rush about it. You’d better rest up for today so you would feel better tomorrow.” Prairie suggested as Vent slowly nodded and left the room. Prairie watched him go and frowned. _‘Poor Vent…’_

Meanwhile, Vent walked slowly to his room. He opened the door and paused for a while before he closed it back. He continued walking towards the elevator and went up to the deck. He remembered the time when he was there alone and Aile came looking for him. He then thought of his battle with Omega last time.

_‘The big battle’s tomorrow… but am I ready yet? I really screwed up last time…’_ Vent asked himself as he looked at the clouds. _‘And Aile… is she okay?’_ Vent paused for a while and kept staring at the clouds. _‘I should have told her my feelings back then… If I had… then I might have more confidence…’_ Vent lowered his head and tried to hold back his tears. _‘I love you Aile…’_

Vent looked back at the clouds, but then saw a shining light that seemed familiar to him. The light flew beside him and materialized into a man with long blonde hair and a pair of glasses.

_“Be strong Vent… I know that you can do it…”_ the man said.

“B-Boss?” Vent looked at his former boss, Giro.

_“It’s me Vent… don’t give up… believe it that you can do it…”_ Giro said before he faded away into the small light and flew away.

“Boss…” Vent looked at the direction where the light went. Vent rolled up his hands into fists and smiled as he had gained more confidence. “I understand Boss… I’ll defeat Omega, and take Aile back here with my own hands!” Vent stood up confidently and took one last glance at the clouds before went back inside the base.

_‘Don’t worry Aile! I’ll save you!’_ Vent thought before he went to bed.


	9. ROCK ON!

The next morning, Vent woke up early and had already gone to the Control Room to report before he left to Area N. Vent had more confidence after his meeting with his former boss, Giro, in his Cyber Elf form.

“Are you ready Vent?” Prairie asked.

“I’m as ready as ever!” Vent replied with determination in his voice. Prairie smiled as she was happy to see that Vent had already gained his spirits back. “I’ll be going now! Wish me luck, Prairie!” Vent ran out of the room and headed towards the transerver room.

He was transported to the end of Area M, near the entrance to Area N. He ran inside and found himself in a big room with several small corridors covered with spikes.

“How can I go through all that!?” Vent commented, seeing that every corridor was covered with spikes.

_“Vent, I’ll try and find the right way for you!”_ Model X came out from Vent’s pocket.

“Okay, thanks Model X!” Vent thanked the blue Biometal as the Biometal floated away, checking the corridors.

After checking all of the corridors, Model X floated back to Vent. _“Vent, let’s Rock On and go to the rightmost corridor!”_

“Okay, roger that!” Vent pulled out his other Biometal. “ROCK ON!”

Vent transformed into his ZX form and walked over to the rightmost corridor. He was about to crawl into it, but the corridor got smaller and smaller.

“It looks like I might have to take some damage from theses spikes…” Vent closed his eyes and entered the corridor carefully.

He took the first step inside and the spikes below him hurt his feet. He held back the pain and kept walking towards the exit on the other side. _‘Ignore the pain… I have to save Aile…’_

As the corridor got smaller, Vent had no choice but to crawl. His armor had already had some holes as the spikes were really hard and they went through his armor. After crawling carefully, he managed to get out of the corridor. He looked around the room and saw that it was fully covered in gold.

“Wow… this room is made of pure gold!” Vent looked around the room with awe, but suddenly noticed that Omega was nowhere to be seen. “Model X, are you sure we’re in the right room?”

_“Yes, I’m picking up Omega’s energy reading here.”_ Model X replied in his mind.

“I knew that you would come, Chosen One…”

Vent turned around and saw that Omega was standing there. “Omega!” Vent noticed the figure behind him. “Aile!” Aile looked at him weakly before she fell down. “Aile!”

“Vent… get out of here…” Aile said weakly and looked at Vent.

“Aile…” Vent looked at his friend before he turned to Omega angrily. “What did you do to her!?”

Omega chuckled. “I got bored waiting for you…” Omega pulled out a whip. “So I did some early ‘punishment’ to your friend here…”

“You…! I’ll destroy you!” Vent charged angrily at Omega, but he stopped Vent’s fist with just one hand.

“Is that all you got?” Omega asked with an evil smile.

Vent growled angrily and pulled out his ZX saber. He swung the saber at Omega, but he blocked the attack effortlessly. Omega pushed Vent to the side with his free hand, knocking him against the wall. Vent tried to get up, but the pain on his back stopped him from getting up. Vent felt that his consciousness was starting to fade away as Omega had knocked him to the wall really hard.

“Too weak!” Omega commented as he gave Vent a cold stare. “I shouldn’t have wasted my time doing rematches with you!” Omega turned away from him and walked away.

Vent tried getting up again and held his saber with both of his hands. Omega noticed him and turned around. He saw Vent with cracks all over his armor, holding his green saber with both of his hands and pointing it at him.

“You can still stand up, huh? Why would you even waste your life to save this girl?” Omega pointed his saber at Aile, who was trying to get up.

“It’s none of your bussiness!” Vent charged again at Omega, but he clashed his saber with Vent’s. Unknown by Omega, Vent pulled out his ZX buster and charged it. He shot Omega in the stomach, sending him against the wall.

Omega just got up and chuckled. “It looks like I’ve underestimated you too… You have a great potential. You fight recklessly and fully controlled by your emotions… Such power… you should have exceeded mine…”

Vent ran over to him and swung his saber multiple times. Omega held out his saber in front of him and blocked all of the attacks. After Vent had slowed down, Omega ducked away from the other slashes and swung his saber across Vent’s stomach.

“ARGH!!!” Vent fell to his knees and held a hand over his wounded stomach.

“What’s wrong? Can’t handle the pressure?” Omega kicked him on the shoulder and Vent fell down as he started coughing out blood. “Where’s that spirit? That spirit of anger and hate… let me see that again!”

Vent got up slowly and put a hand over his wounded stomach while his other hand held out his saber. He glared angrily at Omega as Omega smiled evilly at him. Omega’s cold stare met with Vent’s eyes which were filled with anger and hate. Vent swung his saber at Omega once more, but this time Omega blocked the incoming slash with his bare hand.

“W-WHAT!?” Vent struggled as Omega grabbed his saber tighter.

“That rage… that anger… have made you more powerful than the last time…” Omega lowered his head, but Vent could still see his smile, his evil smile. “But with that… I’ve also become even more powerful!” Omega crushed the saber into pieces as Vent stared in disbelief.

“W-What…?” Vent stared at his broken saber and didn’t notice that Omega threw a punch right to his chest and sent him against the wall, knocking him out cold.

“Vent…” Aile said weakly and tears stared to fall. “No… please Vent… get up and get out of here…”

_Vent was back in the big dark room similar to where he met Omega in his nightmare. He looked at himself and saw that he was still in his ZX form._

_“I’m back in here again? Is this another nightmare? Or am I dead?” Vent asked himself. A light suddenly appeared in front of him and materialized into Giro._

_“Don’t give up Vent! There are people who needed your help!”_

_“I’m sorry Boss… I couldn’t do it…” Suddenly, another light appeared beside Giro and materialized into a woman with long dark brown hair and green eyes._

_“Be strong Vent! I don’t want to see my son gives up so easily!”_

_“M-Mom!?”_

_“Vent… I’ve taught you that hate and anger won’t help achieve what you’re looking for… Fight for the ones that you cared about, the ones that you loved…”_

_“Get up Vent! Your life isn’t over now!”_

_“Boss… Mom… thank you…” Vent closed his eyes and felt that he started to gain consciousness again._

Vent got up slowly with his newly regained strength. It was the strength of love and care. Omega stared at him at disbelief and pulled out his purple saber. He charged at Vent, but he quickly disappeared and appeared behind Omega. He pulled out his ZX saber as the pieces started to remerge. Vent slashed Omega’s back and knocked him out near the wall.

“I admit that you’re strong, Omega. But your power which comes from hate can never beat the power to protect others…” Vent stared calmly at Omega which made him annoyed.

“No! With your hatred towards me, you can never beat me!” Omega charged at Vent, but was knocked down by Vent’s ZX buster.

“I’m not fighting you with hatred anymore. I’ve realized that people get stronger if they had something or someone to protect. Your lack of love had made you lose all those years.” Vent said before he turned to Aile. “I’ve regained my strength because I have someone important to protect.”

“Why… why would you protect people!? They only make you suffer even more!” Omega rejected angrily.

“Why would I protect her? It’s simple. I love her, that’s all. She a great friend and partner to me, and I’ll always protect her…” Vent closed his eyes and smiled.

Aile heard Vent’s confession, even though they were a bit far away from her. She didn’t expect those words came from Vent, but she actually heard it. _‘Vent… I love you too…’_

Omega paused for a while, but he thought of a plan that might bring Vent back to the path he first took, hatred. Omega quickly dashed away and stopped in front of Aile. He lifted her up by the neck and pointed his saber at her neck.

“Now, will you still take that ‘love path’ of yours after I killed your precious one?” Omega drew his saber closer to Aile’s neck as Vent stared at him with horror.

_‘No… I must fight with love! I fight to protect!’_ Vent tightened his grip on his saber, but then he loosened it. “Omega, your power won’t be enough to kill her! She might not be able to transform in that condition, but she’s stronger than you thought she is!”

“V-Vent…” Aile looked at Vent eyes. They were filled with determination and care.

Omega growled angrily and hit Aile’s head with the back of his saber, knocking her out cold. “Fine then! But I’ll still destroy you with my own hands!” Omega charged at Vent, but he swung his saber at Omega, cutting of his right arm.

“It’s over Omega, you’ll never win…” Vent pulled back his saber and reverted back to his human form.

“Aren’t you going to finish me off?” Omega asked.

“No, I don’t see the reason why I should finish you off…” Vent walked over to Aile and gently picked her up bridal style.

Omega stood up and picked up his purple saber. “Then I’ll just finish myself off!” Omega laughed evilly and stabbed his own chest. “My work is done here… Lord Weil will be very pleased with what I’ve done!” Omega’s body shone brightly before he exploded, making the whole room shook violently.

“This is bad! I have to get both Aile and myself out of here!” Vent laid Aile down for a moment as he reached out the communicator on his ear. “Prairie, could transfer us out of here?”

“Okay, hold on!” Prairie said from the other side. Vent picked Aile back and the two of them were transferred out of the room before it collapsed on them.


	10. Confession

A few days had passed since the defeat of Omega. Aile had woken up a few hours after Vent took her back to the base. Vent was still unconscious, but he was still alive. Bandages were all over his body as he had suffered a lot of injuries from those spikes and his battle with Omega.

After Aile had woken up, she visited Vent in the medic wing every single day. She heard him confessed during his battle with Omega, so it was time to confess her feelings for him. She went inside the medic wing, but found that Vent was still unconscious. She walked over to him and smiled sadly.

“Thanks again for saving me, Vent… I know that I said that every time I come here… but I don’t feel that’s enough…” Aile ran a hand through his cheek. “I’ll be going outside now… Sleep tight, my brave hero…” Aile drew her face closer to Vent’s and kissed his forehead.

When Aile was about to leave the room, she heard that Vent started coughing. She ran back to him and saw that he was awake. “A-Aile…?”

“It’s me Vent… I’m right here…” Aile took one of his hands and held it tightly in her hands.

“W-What happened?” Vent asked as he tried to sit up.

“Be careful, Vent! Your wounds are fully healed yet!” Aile helped him into a more comfortable position. “Prairie told me that after we were transferred back here, you took me here and fainted after you put me on the bed.”

“Oh… I remember now…” Vent said as he rubbed the back his head in embarrassment.

“Vent, you should rest up for the day. I’ll tell Prairie and the others that you’re awake.” Aile walked towards the door and left.

Vent looked at the door for a moment before he laid back on the bed, until something flashed in his mind. _‘Wait a minute! Did Aile hear me when I said I love her during the battle with Omega?’_ Vent paused for a moment and his face started to turn red. _‘If she didn’t hear it, then tonight is my chance. It’s now or never!’_

Vent lied down on his bed again and closed his eyes, trying to sleep. Suddenly, the door opened and Ashe and Grey came into the room.

“Hi Vent! Are you feeling any better?” Ashe said loudly.

“Dude! It’s good to have you back!” Grey followed as Vent just kept silent.

_‘Oh brother…’_ Vent complained and sighed desperately as the room became noisy and kept him awake.

It was nighttime in the base and the whole base was really quiet. Vent got off from his bed and slowly made his way to the deck. He sat on the small platform he used to sit on and stared at the clouds. He was going to confess again, but he was really nervous.

Meanwhile, Aile was lying on her bed in her room. She couldn’t sleep because she knew that she had to confess to him sooner or later. With that, she made a decision and walked out of her room. She headed towards the medic wing, but she found that the room was empty. She smiled to herself as she knew where to find him.

Vent continued staring at the clouds, until the voice of Aile snapped him back to reality.

“I know that you would be here.” Aile commented with a smile as she sat on the platform next to Vent.

“A-Aile!? W-What are you doing here?” Vent asked as he looked at her with a surprised look on his face.

“Well, I have something to tell you so I’m looking for you. I went to the medic wing but you weren’t there, so I checked here because this is your favorite spot!” Aile explained.

“Oh… but before that, I need to tell you something too… Do you mind if I tell you first?” Vent asked.

“Sure, what is it?” Aile replied.

“Well… i-it’s about the time when I fought Omega… I said certain things, but I don’t think you could hear it… but if you do, then… uh… w-well… i-it’s not a joke…” Vent turned away to hide his blush.

Aile put a hand on his cheek and turned his face to her. “I heard it Vent, loud and clear…”

“Y-You did!? W-Well… I can explain…” Vent began to panic, but stopped when he saw Aile looking at him with a warming smile.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me… I’ll give you the response for your words…” Aile wrapped her arms around Vent’s neck and leaned closer. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Vent’s.

Vent was surprised at first, but then he wrapped his hands around Aile’s waist and returned the kiss. The two of them broke a few seconds later for some air.

“So… does that mean…” Vent started.

“Yes! I love you too, dummy!” Aile playfully hit him on the shoulder.

The two of them stared at each other lovingly for a moment before they kissed for the second time. The full moon came into sight as they kissed, but they were still stuck in their own world to notice. They cuddled to each other, but not noticing that they weren’t the only ones up there.

“Yes! I told you that Aile’s going to kiss Vent first! Now pay me 1000 Energy Crystals!” the silver haired Hunter extended her hand.

“Man! I’m always broke every time I place a bet with you, Ashe!” Grey put his hand into his pocket and took out 1000 Energy Crystals. He handed them to Ashe, but he dropped some of it.

Vent and Aile quickly turned to the direction where the sound came from and saw Ashe and Grey behind the entrance to the base. Vent’s and Aile’s faces turned red as the Hunters had been spying on them.

There was a long pause before Ashe elbowed Grey. “It’s time for plan B! RUN!!!” Ashe and Grey ran inside the base as Vent and Aile followed behind them.

“Ashe! Grey! You’re not going to get away with this!!!” Aile yelled angrily and the base started to become noisy.


	11. Forgetful Vent

It had been week since Vent’s battle with Omega, and everything was back to normal. It was the third time Aile checked inside Vent’s room, but Vent wasn’t there. She had been to the deck, but he wasn’t there either. He had been missing for almost a day, since that morning. She sighed desperately and walked in one of the corridors. When she passed the training room, she saw that Vent was training there.

“Vent?” Aile asked as Vent turned to her.

“Oh, hi Aile!” Vent greeted with a smile. “I got bored because there weren’t any missions to do, so I decided to train here instead!”

“Vent! Don’t you know that I’ve been looking for you the whole day?” Aile said angrily.

“Oh, really? Sorry Aile, I should’ve told you before…” Vent smiled nervously. “But why are you looking for me? Did something happen?”

Aile just sighed at Vent’s clueless reaction. “Vent, do you know what day today is?”

“Today? Um… it’s Friday right?” Vent replied, but got a glare from Aile. “What?”

“Vent, you don’t remember at all?” Aile’s angry eyes turned into sad eyes. “Please Vent, I’m your girlfriend now… You should remember what day today is…” Aile left sadly, but was stopped by Vent.

“Wait! Give me some more time to think about it!” Vent grabbed one of her arms to stop her from walking away.

“Okay… but if you don’t remember by the end of the day, I’m breaking up with you!” Vent let go of her hand and stared at her in shock as she walked away.

_‘S-She would break up with me!?’_ Vent thought in shock before putting his hand on his forehead. _‘No, I’ve got to remember! I’m sure it’s not our anniversary as we’ve just been together for a week… I’ll go and check the calendar then…’_ Vent went to his room to check the calendar, and his scream could be heard throughout the base seconds later. Prairie suddenly came into Vent’s room with a worried look.

“Vent, what is it? What happened?” Prairie asked before she saw that Vent suddenly fell to his bed. “Vent! Are you okay?”

“Prairie… I can’t believe what had just happened…” Vent paused for a while before he quickly sat up, startling Prairie. “I’ve completely forgotten that today is… Aile’s birthday!”

“Oh, so that’s the problem… Now I can see why she was looking so sad when I passed the cafeteria…” Prairie said.

“I have no idea what I should give to her… I know that she used to be a tomboy three years ago, before we were assigned separately… But now, she’s more… well, ladylike… I’m not sure what I should give her now…” Vent sighed desperately as Prairie put a hand on his shoulder. Vent looked up and saw Prairie with a smile on her face.

“Aile had told me that she might be a tomboy, but she still liked things that most girls liked. She also said that she still didn’t like jewelry, except for necklaces.” Prairie explained and Vent nodded.

“Okay, thanks Prairie! I know what I should buy now!” Vent got up from his bed and went out of the room.

Vent walked towards the transerver room and transferred himself to Area C, the city. He walked along the streets, looking for a good store to buy a birthday present for Aile. He stopped when he passed a jewelry store. He looked around and saw a necklace of his interest. He checked the price and pulled out his wallet.

_‘Man… If I buy this, I won’t have any more money left…’_ Vent looked at his wallet, then at the necklace. _‘No! I have to buy it! I have to make up to her for forgetting her birthday!’_ Vent went to the counter to but the necklace. The shopkeeper put the necklace in a medium sized box and Vent took the box. He paid for the necklace and put it in his pocket before he retuned to the base.

Meanwhile, Aile was still sitting alone in the cafeteria. The other Guardians didn’t notice that she was sitting there on her own. She looked at her glass of water and sighed sadly.

_‘How come Vent forgot about my birthday? It’s not like him to forget somebody else’s birthday… He even spent all of his Energy Crystals on a crane game to give Prairie a stuffed animal as a birthday present for her…’_ Aile put her head on the table and used her arms as a pillow.

Aile sighed one more time before she finished her glass of water and left to her room. On the way there, she saw Vent in front of his room with a box in his hands. Vent turned and saw Aile there, quickly putting away the box into his pocket.

“A-Aile! I-I didn’t see you there!” Vent backed away nervously. “But I have something to tell you!”

Aile looked at him for a moment before she raised a hand in front of him. “Not now Vent, I’m not in the mood…” Aile continued walking away to her room, leaving a disappointed Vent in front of his room alone.

_‘Is it too late already? Is she going to break up with me?’_ Vent looked at the door of her room, then at the box in his hands. _‘There’s no way I’m going to give up! I’ve almost lost Aile once, but it can’t happen again!’_ Vent looked at her door again for a moment before going inside his room.

It was almost the end of the day as the sun was setting. Aile got out from her room and made her way to the deck. She stared at the sunset and smiled sadly. The sunset always reminded her of the close people that she had lost before.

Meanwhile, Vent went out of his room and walked to the room next to him, Aile’s room. He knocked on the door and waited, but got no response. He was going to open the door anyway, but something stopped him.

_‘Wait, she would become angrier if I went into her room without permission! What should I do now?’_ Vent thought, but then decided to go to the deck to clear up his mind.

Vent went to the deck and found Aile standing behind the fence. The wind blew her ponytailed hair back and forth, with the color of sunset reflected on her face as she turned around to Vent and snap him back to reality.

“Oh, it’s you Vent… What is it?” Aile asked with a sad smile.

Vent walked over to her with the box behind his back. “Aile, I want to apologize for forgetting what day today is… I hope this makes up for it…” Vent pulled out the box and gave it to Aile. “Happy birthday, Aile…”

Aile smiled at him and took the box before giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks Vent… I honestly don’t need the present, but I just want you to say the words. But I’ll take it anyways since you probably spent all of your allowance to get it…”

“H-How do you know?” Vent asked in surprise.

“I remember the time when you spent the whole day playing the crane game to get a stuffed animal for Prairie. I was there too you know…” Aile winked at him as Vent blushed in embarrassment.

“Yeah… I remember now… especially the part when we got kicked out…” Vent added and the two laughed together at the memory. There was a pause before Aile spoke up.

“So… can I open it now?” Aile asked as Vent nodded. Aile opened the box and took out a silver necklace with an ‘A’ letter hanging on it. “Vent… I… I don’t know what to say…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to. I don’t mind at all.” Vent replied. Aile put the necklace on before hugging Vent, knocking both of them down.

“Thanks a lot, Vent! I’m sorry that I was furious about you!” Aile looked straight at Vent’s eyes. “But most of all, I’m sorry for threatening our relationship…”

Vent smiled and pulled her closer by putting his hand around her waist. The couple shared a kiss in a sunset, without anyone spying on them as the Hunters had already went back to their camp.

After the two of them broke the kiss, Aile got back up and helped Vent up.

“So what are we going to do now?” Vent asked before his stomach growled.

“Your stomach always has the answer for that!” Aile commented with a smile.

“Alright, alright… let’s eat!” Vent took Aile’s hand in his and the two of them went to the cafeteria for dinner.


	12. The Hunter’s Camp Part 1

It was really early in the morning, but the Hunters had already woken up. The silver haired top Hunter, Ashe, made her way out of her room and went straight to the café for breakfast. It always had been the same in the camp ever since she and Grey took out Albert. Suddenly, she came up with an idea. She reached her communicator and contacted the Guardian Base.

Aile had already woken up, but Vent was still asleep when they were called through the speaker.

“Vent and Aile, please come to the Control Room.” The voice on the speaker said.

Vent was woken up by the call and got up lazily. He got dressed before he went to the Control Room and found Aile and Prairie inside.

“Morning…” Vent greeted them and let out a big yawn. “Sorry, I couldn’t sleep last night…”

“It’s okay. By the way, your friend Ashe called early in the morning. She wanted both of you to stay for a night in the Hunter’s camp.” Prairie explained.

“Another day with that troublemaker again? No way, I’m not coming!” Vent was about to leave the room, but Aile dragged him back.

“She also asked me to tell you that they’re going to have a party to celebrate the defeat of Albert and there will be many kinds of food served.” Prairie continued as Vent stopped struggling to get out from Aile’s grip.

“Okay, let’s go then! Come on Aile!” It was Vent’s turn to drag her along with him to the transerver room.

“Wait Vent! We have to pack up some clothes to change too!” Aile protested and Vent stopped dragging her.

“Oh, you’re right! Okay, let’s meet up in the transerver room later!” Vent let go of Aile before he went into his room.

Aile stared at Vent’s door and smiled. _‘It looks like Vent is the same as always… Even though he is childish sometimes, he still cares about the others…’_ Aile looked at the necklace Vent had bought her in her birthday for a moment before she went into her room to pack up.

A few minutes later, the two of them met up in the transerver room with bags containing their clothes and other daily needs. They transferred themselves in the transerver room in the Hunter’s camp. Ashe was standing there, waiting for them.

“Hi you two! It has been a while!” Ashe exclaimed cheerfully, but got a glare from Vent. “What? Aren’t you happy to see me again?”

“As if! I still can’t forgive you and Grey for spying on us!” Vent yelled angrily.

“I said I was sorry!” Ashe responded. “If only Grey didn’t drop those Crystals, then we wouldn’t get caught and could take some pictures…” Ashe muttered.

“W-What!?” Vent and Aile said in unison.

“Okay, I’m sorry!” Ashe replied. “Come on, I have to show you to your room!”

“Don’t you mean ‘our rooms’?” Vent commented.

“Well… we have some other guests from outside the camp who wanted to stay here, so we only have one more room left… Sorry, I forgot to tell the other Hunters first before the rooms are taken…” Ashe nervously rubbed the back of her head as the couple’s faces turned red. “But don’t worry, there’s a bunk bed inside!”

“O-Okay, I think that’s a little better… But it’s not a lie, right?” Aile asked.

“Nope, I’ve checked it before you came.” Ashe said as Vent and Aile sighed in relief. “But the celebration is a lie…”

“What!?” Vent asked angrily, but Aile tried holding him back.

“Sorry! I’m really bored here! There haven’t been a lot of missions lately from Legion since we took out Albert and the Ouroboros…” Ashe replied as Vent calmed down a bit.

“Okay, fine! By the way, where’s Grey?” Vent asked.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen him today…” Ashe replied. “Come on, let’s put those bags of yours to your room!”

Ashe showed the couple the way to camp building number 00. They went down the ladder before they reached the rooms. Ashe noticed that Vent and Aile were staring at the underground rooms with awe and stopped walking.

“We Hunters sleep here in the underground. This place also acts as a shelter for us in case we are attacked or when a storm comes.” Ashe explained before she continued walking.

“This is impressive… I’ve never seen a place like this before! Do you know when this place was built?” Vent asked.

“They said that this place was built more than a hundred years ago, so there are still some ancient technologies left here.” Ashe kept on walking until they reached the end of the corridor. “Here, this is your room.” Ashe pointed at the door on their left and gave handed the key to Aile.

“Thanks Ashe. Would you show us around the camp later?” Aile took the key and asked.

“Sure! I’ll be waiting for you guys outside the building!” Ashe said before she left the two Guardians.

Aile opened the door with the key Ashe had given her. They entered the room and found a pretty big room with a bunk bed in the right corner of the room and a medium sized window in the top left corner.

“Wow, the room is bigger than in the Guardian Base!” Vent commented as he put his bag near the bed. “Aile, where do you want to sleep?”

“I’ll go with the lower bunk. I’m still afraid of heights.” Aile put her bag beside Vent’s.

“Okay… Wait, did you say that you’re still afraid of heights?” Vent asked.

“Yeah, I’m afraid of heights ever since that incident in the amusement park long ago…” Vent looked at Aile, who was about to cry. “I remember clearly that the Mavericks shot my mom when we were in the Ferris wheel, and another one was about to shoot me but I backed away and fell from the Ferris wheel. Luckily, there was a bush near the Ferris wheel and I fell into it.”

“It’s okay, Aile… I’m here for you…” Vent put his arm over her shoulder and kissed her forehead. “I miss my mom too, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t change things that had already happened in the past.”

“Thanks Vent…” Aile pulled Vent into hug and let him go a few seconds later. “Come on Vent, let’s meet up with Ashe!”


	13. The Hunter’s Camp Part 2

The two went out of the room and met up with Ashe outside the building. They went around the camp, but they hadn’t seen Grey during the tour. After a while, they decided to take a break in the underground building. They entered the underground café and were greeted by Nick, the café owner.

“Hi there, Ashe!” Nick waved at Ashe and saw Vent and Aile behind them. “Hi there Vent and Aile! Long time no see!”

“Yeah, it has been a while!” Vent replied.

“Wait, you know them?” Ashe asked.

“Yeah, they came here to help us take that Albert down. They came here to this café to buy some preparation for the big battle.” Nick explained before he walked away from the counter and to his fridge. “Huh? Where’s the pudding? And the cake’s gone too!”

Ashe gulped at the sight and was going to sneak out of the room, but Vent stopped her. “Did you steal something?”

“Well… I just want the cake, but I have no idea where the pudding is…” Ashe lied, but Vent glared at her. “Fine! I took the pudding too! Happy now?”

“Not until I tell Nick that you took the cake and pudding!” Vent smiled slyly.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Ashe pulled the back of his jacket to stop him, but Aile stopped both of them from arguing.

“That’s enough you guys! Let’s just go somewhere else!” Aile scolded as Vent and Ashe stared at each other before turning away with annoyed faces.

“Fine, let’s go!” Ashe walked ahead and the two Guardians followed.

The three of them went got out of the building and started exploring the camp again. When they came across the training room, they saw Grey went out of the training room with his gun in hand.

“Geez Grey… You’re still going to beat that shooting record again?” Ashe asked.

“Yeah… I almost beat the record by 5 enemies!” Grey replied.

“It’s okay, dude! I’m sure you’re going to beat that record someday!” Vent commented.

“Thanks… By the way, what are you two doing here anyway?” Grey asked.

“We’re staying here for the night. Ashe tricked us by saying that there would be a celebration party for taking Albert down.” Vent replied.

“It’s great to have you two here! Alright, I’m going back to beating that record again! I’ll see you guys at dinner!” Grey said before he went back to the training room.

“Hey Aile, I think you should try beating the record! You can use the ZX buster better than me, so I think it’s better that you give it shot!” Vent commented and turned to Aile.

“It’s okay, I’ll skip trainings for the time being. Now, I think you know where we should head to next…” Aile commented.

“H-Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” Vent asked as his stomach growled.

“That’s what I meant!” Aile giggled and pointed at Vent’s stomach as he blushed in embarrassment.

“Okay then, let’s eat! I’m hungry too!” Ashe exclaimed cheerfully as the three of them walked to the café in the number 01 building.

After they had lunch, they headed towards the train area and the waterfall near the training room. They explored the camp until it was nighttime. When they were about to go back to their room, it was raining as soon as they got out of the café after having dinner.

“Great! Now what should we do?” Vent asked as he looked at the window.

“I don’t think the rain will stop in a few more hours. We don’t have any choice but running in the rain to get to our rooms.” Grey commented.

“Okay, let’s go!” Ashe opened the door and ran to the building next door.

“I’ll see you guys there!” Grey waved at the couple and ran out to the building.

“Come on, Aile! We’ll use my jacket to cover us from the rain!” Vent took off his jacket and looked at Aile. Aile paused for a moment before she nodded.

Vent put an arm around her and pulled her closer to him as he put his jacket on their heads, covering them. They ran quickly to the building and went inside before they got soaked even more. They went back to their room with their soaked clothes. As soon as Vent closed the door, Ashe suddenly barged in.

“I forgot to tell you something!” Ashe yelled, not noticing that she was yelling near Vent’s ear. “Oops… sorry!”

“Okay, it’s fine. What is it that you wanted to tell us?” Vent asked while covering his ear which was yelled at.

“If you’re looking for the bathroom to change, go down the ladder once and walk to the end of the corridor. There are two rooms there. Alright, good night guys!” Ashe smiled and went out of the room.

“Are you okay Vent?” Aile saw her boyfriend’s face was a bit pale.

“I’ll be fine, you go ahead and change. I’ll catch up with you later.” Vent replied as Aile nodded and took some clothes from her bag.

After Aile had left, Vent put away the communicator from his ear and pulled out his blue pajamas. He changed into his pajamas in the room and put his soaked clothes on the edge of his bed.

_‘I guess it’ll be fine if I put my clothes there…’_ Vent looked at his clothes which was hanging on the edge and looked around the room. He suddenly noticed that there was a transparent line on the wall. Vent took his clothes from the edge of his bed and hanged it on the line.

After he had hanged them, Aile came into the room with her short sleeved purple pajamas. “You have changed already? I thought that you were going to the changing room.”

“I was going to, but I decided to change here instead. By the way, I found this transparent line to hang our clothes on.” Vent pointed backwards at the line before he went into the top bunk of the bed.

Aile hanged her clothes on the line and looked on the window. “It looks like Grey’s right about the rain. The rain is getting heavier and heavier…”

“Yeah…” Vent replied and looked at the window before letting out a big yawn. “I’m really tired now… Good night, Aile…”

“Good night, Vent…” Aile replied and looked at the window once more before untying her ponytail and turning off the lights. She went to bed and covered herself under the blanket.

As soon as Aile closed her eyes, the loud sound of the lighting could be heard. She quickly sat up with a loud gasp. She looked around and tried to calm herself down before going back to bed. Suddenly, she was woken up again by the sound of the lighting louder than before.

Aile looked at the top bunk and saw that Vent was already asleep. She sighed desperately, but Vent could still hear it.

“Are you okay, Aile?” Vent asked.

“Huh? I thought that you were asleep already.” Aile replied.

“I was woken up by your loud gasp.” Vent replied.

“Sorry…” Aile apologized, but then another sound of lighting could be heard and Aile let out another loud gasp. Vent stayed silent for a moment, making Aile think that he was asleep. “Are you awake, Vent?”

“What is it…?” Vent asked tiredly.

“Um… could you come down here? I’m always startled when there is a thunderstorm like this…” Aile paused for a moment and Vent suddenly came down from the top bunk. “Where’s your pillow?”

“Whaddaya mean…?” Vent covered his mouth as he yawned. He saw Aile moved closer to the wall, giving out some space on the other end of the bed. “Wait, you mean…”

“Please Vent, just accompany me here…” Aile put a hand next to her pillow. Vent took his pillow from the top bunk and put it beside Aile’s. He sat on the bed next to Aile, and both of them stayed silent until another sound of lighting was heard. Aile wrapped her arms around Vent and buried her head on his chest.

Vent was surprised by Aile’s actions, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. “It’s okay, don’t worry… Now let’s just go back to sleep, okay?”

Aile watched as Vent let go of her waist and lied down next to her. She lied down on the bed cuddled to him. She saw his face and she could hear some quiet snores from him. She smiled and got her face closer to his. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

“Good night, Vent… Sweet dreams…” Aile whispered softly before she finally fell asleep.


	14. Official Mission from Legion Headquarters

It was early in the morning, but the camp was as noisy as it usually would in the afternoon. It was an emergency call from Legion Headquarters.

“Ashe, Grey, I want you along with those Guardians to investigate the Floating Ruins. That storm last night was surely not an ordinary storm.” Mikhail ordered from the monitor. “There are some oddities that come from the back of the area and it seems to have caused not only the storm, but it also caused the ruins to float again like the last time when a part of Model W was there.”

“Roger! We will be on our way!” Grey saluted before Mikhail cut off the connection.

“Alright, I’ll call those lovebirds!” Ashe smiled and left the Command Center in the underground building.

Ashe took the ladder up twice before she got into the corridor where the rooms are. She walked to the end of the corridor and barged into Vent and Aile’s room without knocking. She saw that the couple were still sleeping, both on the lower bunk, and were cuddling to each other.

“Oh… You two are such a lovely couple!” Ashe said loudly on purpose, waking up the two Guardians.

The two noticed that they were in each other’s arms and quickly backed away. Both of their faces were red and they didn’t dare to look at each other.

“Come on, don’t be shy! You’ll sleep on the same bed together again once you two are married, right?” Ashe continued teasing them, but stopped when they both glared at her. “Wait! I have a really important notice for you! We have an official mission from Legion! You better hurry up and get dressed!”

“A mission? This early?” Vent asked tiredly and let out a yawn.

“Yes, so hurry up! I’ll be waiting outside and don’t take too long!” Ashe left the room, but turned to Vent before she closed the door. “The bathroom is across the changing room, if that’s what you’re going to ask.”

“How do you know I was going to ask that?” Vent asked.

“What else would you ask other than that?” Ashe teased and left the room.

“Come on Aile, we have to hurry up!” Vent took out his clothes from his bag and ran out the room.

Aile was still in the room was stretching her arms. She pulled out her usual blue coat and white shorts and went to the bathroom. They took a bath and got dressed before going back to their room to put back their pajamas.

Aile went back to the room first had her hair into a ponytail again. Just then, Vent came into the room with his hair still messed up. Aile laughed at his messy hair, but Vent was clueless about it. “What’s so funny anyway?”

“Your hair… It’s really messed up…” Aile walked over to him and helped him with his hair.

“Thanks…” Vent put his folded pajamas over his bag. “Are you ready to meet up with the others?”

Aile nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

The two of them walked outside the building and found that Ashe and Grey had already been waiting. Ashe noticed them and walked over to them. “Okay, it looks like everyone’s here. Our main objective is to investigate the Floating Ruins, which might have been related to the storm last night.”

“Okay, let’s go then! The sooner the better, right?” Vent said impatiently.

“Not so fast, Vent! We were told that there are some strange readings coming from the area, and it was similar to the one we had when Model W was there. It was also similar with the energy readings from Area N last week, or something that we should say Omega’s readings.” Ashe explained.

“Omega!? He’s still alive!? But… I saw that he killed himself!” Vent protested.

“It is possible that he might be alive, so we had better be careful.” Grey suggested.

Vent lowered his head and curled up his fists angrily. Aile saw his reaction when they mentioned Omega and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Vent. I’m sure you can take down Omega again.” Aile tried to cheer Vent up, but it didn’t seem to work.

“Come on, let’s go…” Vent said as Aile followed the others to the transerver room.

The four of them were transferred inside a small cave, the entrance to Floating Ruins. The wind blew strong than it used to be and the grounds were more unstable. The strangest thing was that there weren’t any Mavericks around.

“This place is really quiet without the Mavericks, but it’s also strange. Usually more Mavericks keep showing up even after the others are defeated. But here, we don’t even see any Mavericks!” Vent commented as he looked around the ruins.

“Everyone! I got something! There are some strong readings in the back of the area, just like what Master Mikhail said before!” Grey told the others, but then a strong wind blew.

“The wind is really strong…” Aile held on to Vent as he held on to the cave rocks.

“We have no choice! We have to get to the back of this area!” Ashe stated. “Let’s Rock On and go to the back of the area!” Ashe pulled out Model A from her pocket. “ROCK ON!”

“ROCK ON!” Vent, Aile, and Grey yelled in unison as they transformed.

The wind suddenly blew normally and the four of them could start heading out to the back of the area. Oddly, the wind got a little stronger every time when they were going to hop off to another platform. It was as if the wind was preventing them from advancing to the back of the area.

After a while they made it safely to the back of the area. They checked the place where Model W was, but there was nothing suspicious.

“That’s odd… No one’s here, but I got some really strong readings here…” Grey commented. Just then, a strong wind blew as hard as it was when they were still at the entrance. “W-What?”

The wind died down and revealed two familiar figures. Vent and Aile looked at the figures with surprised looks on their faces.

“That’s impossible…” Aile commented.

“You two again…” Vent curled up his fists angrily.

“It has been a while isn’t it, Chosen Ones? Isn’t that right, Hivolt?”

“You’re right, Hurricaune! It’s time for our revenge!”

“You…! Hivolt and Hurricaune!” Vent exclaimed angrily, seeing their old foes had returned.


	15. Four on One

“It looks like you still remember us…” Hivolt said.

“Yeah! Even if you’re going to challenge us, you won’t win against the four of us here!” Vent commented.

“We’ll see about that, boy!” Hurricaune jumped upwards while Hivolt charged at them.

The four of the dodged Hivolt by moving out of the way, but was caught off guard as Hurricaune sent some shockwaves from the top.

“Aile! You and Ashe will handle Hurricaune! Grey and I will take care of Hivolt here!” Vent told Aile as she nodded.

The boys separated from the girls and faced Hivolt, who flew upwards. He shot some red lasers from his wings while flying, but Vent and Grey could easily dodge them. Vent charged up his ZX saber and jumped in front of Hivolt, slamming the saber right to his head.

“Urgh… You have got stronger, boy… but let’s see if you can dodge this!” parts of Hivolt’s wings separated from his body and formed U shapes. They spun around Hivolt’s body quickly and shot out electricity at the boys.

Vent and Grey were caught of guard and were paralyzed because of the attack. The two were paralyzed badly and more of the shots hit them before Hivolt charged at them with high speed. The two were knocked to the end of the platform, but they grabbed the rock on the edge before they fell.

Aile saw that they were hanging for their dear lives and turned away from Hurricaune. “Vent! Grey!” Aile was about to help them, but was knocked down by Hurricaune’s shockwave.

“Don’t you know that there is something more important than that?” Hurricaune was about to send another shockwave to Aile as she got up, but Ashe had shot her on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Ashe! I owe you one!” Aile thanked Ashe before turning back to Hurricaune. “Let’s finish the job!”

Aile pulled out her ZX buster and aimed at Hurricaune’s neck, the weak point. Before the shots could hit her, she blocked them with her hands. Unnoticed by Hurricaune, Ashe had snuck behind her back and landed a Homing Shot at her back.

“Never underestimate the skills of a top class Hunter!” Ashe said proudly, still aiming her guns at Hurricaune.

“Why you pesky little pest!” Hurricaune turned to Ashe and sent her a big whirlwind, trapping her inside. Suddenly, a charged shot hit Hurricaune’s neck and the whirlwind trapping the Hunter disappeared.

“Did you forget about me?” Aile pointed her buster at Hurricaune’s head and sent a charged shot towards it.

Hurricaune quickly jumped to the air before the shot could hit her and summoned a strong wind, followed by a series of shockwaves shooting at all directions. Aile and Ashe had a hard time dodging them as they came to them fast, but the worse part was that the platform the four of them were standing on started sloping.

Vent and Grey almost lost their grip on the rocks, but the platform managed to go back normal. Vent quickly climbed back up and charged at Hivolt with his saber ready, but Hivolt quickly disappeared before Vent could even swung his saber. Hivolt reappeared behind Vent and slashed him, knocking him down.

Grey climbed up the platform and jumped with his guns held tightly in his hands. He shot out rapid fire shots at Hivolt, but he didn’t seem like he had taken any damages from the shots.

“W-What!? That’s impossible! The Giga Crush couldn’t even damage him!” Grey stared at Hivolt in disbelief as Hivolt flew lower.

“I feel even stronger now… Thanks to Lord Weil, I’ve regained more speed and defense!” Hivolt disappeared again and appeared behind them with U shaped wings around him. “EAT THIS!!!”

Hivolt’s U shaped wings spun faster than before and shot out electricity faster. The two couldn’t react fast enough and were hit the electricity shots barrage. They were both knocked back down by the attack and were paralyzed again. Vent managed to stand up, but then fell back to his knees.

_‘He… he’s really strong… and extremely fast…’_ Vent thought as he started coughing out blood. Aile noticed him coughing out blood and ran to him.

“VENT!!!” Aile ran to his side and helped him up. “Hang on Vent…” Aile looked at Hivolt and glared angrily at him. “You… you did this to him…” Aile was about to aim her buster at him, but Vent stopped her with his hand.

“No… Aile… they’re way stronger than before… Even stronger than Omega…” Vent’s was shaking as his body got weakened. His transformation was cancelled and he fainted afterwards.

“Vent…” Aile put her hand on his wrist to check for his pulse. She gently put him back on the ground as Grey and Ashe approached her.

“This is not good at all… We can’t win if this keeps up!” Grey commented before he and Aile turned back to Hivolt and Hurricaune.

“Let’s see… one down and three more to go!” Hivolt chuckled. “It looks like the Chosen Ones aren’t so tough now…” Hivolt turned to Hurricaune. “May I have the honor to finish them off?”

“Go ahead. I’m not in the mood to finish off some weaklings!” Hurricaune looked at them with disgust.

“Fine then…” Hivolt flew upwards. “My Lord has given me the ability to use this attack. My new move, the Ragnarok Laser will surely kill you without feeling the pain…” Hivolt put his wings in front of him and a bright red orb started to form.

“That’s enough, you two!” a voice from behind Hivolt and Hurricaune. The figure came out from behind and Aile gasped in disbelief.

“O-Omega!?” the three of them yelled in unison with surprised looks on their faces.


	16. In Need of Recovery

“It looks like we meet again, Chosen Ones…” Omega looked at them with his usual cold eyes. “But I didn’t expect you to be so weak after all that… Have you found the mistakes in your way of fighting?”

“Omega! How come you’re still here? I thought that Vent had finished you off!” Aile protested.

“That boy? Finished me off? Hmph, he is such an idiot! I even had to finish myself because he was too frightened to do it!” Omega chuckled evilly before angrily turning to the two Biometal Pseudoroids. “As for you two, you have disobeyed Lord Weil’s orders! Don’t you know what the punishment for that is?”

“Omega… you… No, I won’t give in to you!” Hivolt denied and put his wings in front of him and a bright red orb was formed again. He shot the Ragnarok Laser at Omega and it cracked the platform as it passed. Omega raised a hand and stopped the laser with his bare hand. “I-Impossible!”

The three watched in disbelief as Omega pulled out his purple saber. Hivolt quickly crossed his wings to block, but Omega’s purple saber easily cut through it and Hivolt was split into half in a matter of seconds.

Hurricaune created a huge whirlwind to slow him down as soon as Omega turned to her, but Omega slammed his hand to the ground and a beam of light appeared below her and went through her body. Omega watched as Hivolt and Hurricaune exploded before he turned back to the gang.

“I’m not here to finish you off… Those two have done what Lord Weil had wanted and we have no use for them anymore. He ordered me to destroy them before they try anything funny against us.” Omega smiled evilly and looked at the gang. “We’ll meet again, soon…” With that, Omega teleported out of the place.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Ashe commented and looked at Aile, who was still holding Vent in her arms. “By the way, who is this Weil anyway?”

“I don’t know about him either, but I think Prairie knows something about this!” Aile replied as she put Vent’s arm around her shoulder. “We have to head for the Guardian Base now, are you two coming?”

“Okay, we’ll go with you!” Ashe replied. Aile contacted Prairie and had them transferred back to the Guardian Base.

As soon as they arrived, they were greeted by Prairie. They took Vent to the medic wing before they gathered in the Control Room. They told everything about Omega and the two Pseudoroids, and also about Weil.

“I understand… It looks like there’s no mistake that Dr. Weil can be brought to life as long as they have a certain part from the Model W. For the time being, we can’t help you that much because the Guardian Base is heavily damaged by the storm last night. But most importantly, I might have to pull Vent out from the battles.” Prairie explained.

“Why? I didn’t see that there were any scratches or something like that on his body.” Grey asked.

“There aren’t any physical injuries on him, but most his internal organs couldn’t work properly. I’ve got a report from Muguet that he might not be able to get up from bed on his own for a while and needs a lot of rest.” Prairie continued, but then noticed the worried look on Aile’s face.

“Don’t worry, Aile… I’m sure that Vent will be okay.” Prairie tried to cheer her up.

“Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Prairie… I think I’m going to bed now, I’m really tired…” Aile faked a yawn and left the Control Room.

Aile walked to the elevator to the medic wing instead. When she was walking towards the medic wing, she saw Rose in front of the door to the medic wing.

“Hi Aile… You must be here to see Vent, right?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, how is he?” Aile nodded.

“Muguet said he would be fine. Most of his internal organs have worked normally, but there are some others that haven’t yet…” Rose replied.

“Can I see him now?” Aile asked as Rose nodded shyly.

Aile entered the room and saw Muguet beside Vent’s bed, taking record on something. Vent had cables all around his body and seemed asleep. Muguet turned away from the record board to see Aile there and smiled.

“Hello Aile! Your boyfriend is in coma state, but he is okay. He must avoid the battlefield maybe for a long time.” Muguet said. “I’ll leave you two here. Tell me if something happens, okay?” Aile nodded and Muguet left the room.

Aile stared at his face for a moment before she put a hand on his cheek. She kissed him on the lips and ran a hand through his long brown hair. She sighed sadly before she took his left hand in both of her hands.

“Vent… I don’t know what I would do if I lose you…” Aile held his hand tighter and held back her tears. “Please Vent… don’t push yourself so hard…” Aile put his hand onto her cheek, not noticing that the door had slid open.

The silver haired top class Hunter saw the whole scene, but didn’t feel like interrupting them this time. “Sorry…” Ashe whispered, but wasn’t heard by Aile. She slowly backed away and closed the door.

Ashe turned away from the door and was surprised to see the silver haired reploid was standing behind her. “Grey! You scared me! What are you doing here anyway!?”

“You’re not the only one who wanted to visit Vent too, you know! But what happened there that makes you go back outside immediately?” Grey asked.

“There’s a private moment! Now move… I have to go back to Prairie before going back to the camp!” Grey moved away Ashe walked back to the elevator.

Grey looked at the door for a moment and sighed. “Get well soon, Vent. I don’t think we would be able to pull through all this without you…”


	17. Investigation of Area M

A week had passed since Vent, Aile, Ashe, and Grey met Omega again in the Floating Ruins. Vent was still in coma state ever since that day and Aile had visited him every single day.

It was early in the morning and the base was still quiet as not many Guardians had woken up. Suddenly, an announcement from the speaker broke the silence.

“Aile, please come to the Control Room.” The voice from the speaker said.

The brown haired Guardian had already got dressed and walked out of her room. When she entered the Control Room, she saw Ashe and Grey were waiting there.

“Morning!” Ashe greeted cheerfully as Aile replied with a small smile.

Prairie turned to the three with a smile. “Good morning, everyone. I see that everyone’s here.”

“Let me guess, it’s another mission right?” Ashe asked as she was elbowed by Aile.

“Yes, I’m afraid so. The Guardian Base’s condition is getting better, so now I can do some search about Omega and Dr. Weil more efficiently. But with Vent’s absence, it might be hard to take down Omega now. For the time being, we need to gather as much information as possible about them and the reason why they’re going after Vent.” Prairie explained.

“So let’s get this thing straight. While we’re waiting for Vent to recover, you want us to find some clues about Weil and Omega right?” Ashe asked as Prairie nodded.

“Yes, and I’m assigning you back to Ouroboros crash site. We might find out something about Weil and the Model Ws.” Prairie then turned to Grey. “Grey, I’m assigning you to check Area N where Vent fought Omega before. I’ve been picking up a strange signal similar to a Biometal’s signal.”

“There’s a Biometal there!?” Grey asked.

“I’m not sure, but the reading is similar to a Biometal.” Grey nodded and Prairie turned to Aile. “Aile, I want you to investigate Area M where the Model W core used to be. If Omega has something to do with Dr. Weil, then it is possible that he might go there to find something.”

“Okay, I’ll be on my way!” Aile nodded and the three of them left to the transerver room. They teleported out of the room and went to their assigned places. Aile teleported to the end of Area M, in front of the door leading to the Model W core and saw something lying on the ground.

“What’s this? It looks like an old data disk…” Aile reached her hand to her communicator. “Prairie, I think I’ve got something. It looks like some kind of data disk.”

“Okay, bring it… back… what…? Aile…” Prairie’s voice became unclear because of the static.

“Prairie? Prairie, can you hear me?” Aile called out, but got no response other than just static. “Not good! It looks like this is some kind of trap… Someone has blocked off the transmission!”

“Well, well, well… what do we have here? A Chosen One, lost in the ruins?” a voice said and the figure stepped out from the shadows.

“Fistleo!” Aile looked at the Predatoroid in shock. “Why are you here?”

“Hmph… I thought that you had known from that Hivolt and Hurricaune. My Lord had given me more power and a new body so I can get my revenge on you and that partner of yours!” Fistleo replied.

“Vent… No, you have to go through me first!” Aile pulled out her Biometals. “ROCK ON!”

“If a fight is what you want, then it’s a fight that you’re gonna get!” Fistleo looked at Aile as she pulled out her ZX buster.

Before the shot could hit him, Fistleo sidestepped the shot and charged at Aile. Aile couldn’t move fast enough and was slammed into his body, knocked out to the wall behind her. Aile fell from the wall, but landed safely on the ground. Whe she looked up, she saw that Fistleo had already charged at her again.

Fistleo picked her up by the neck and threw her near the door to Model W core. Aile saw that his body glowed and quickly charged her buster while lying on the floor. Fistleo was about to sent a barrage of fireballs at her, but Aile had shot him on the chest and knocked him back.

Fistleo angrily slammed his fists on the ground and two big rocks fell down from the ceiling. He dashed at the rocks and smashed them, but saw that Aile wasn’t on the other side. He suddenly felt a slash on the back and turned around to see Aile with her ZX saber.

Fistleo growled angrily and dashed at her with high speed, but Aile managed to dodge it by mere inches. Aile quickly charged her saber and towards Fistleo, but he disappeared as Aile slammed her saber. Aile turned around and saw a lot of fireballs sent at her. Aile had no time to dodge and took all the hits.

_‘He’s getting stronger and stronger! Is he powered up by Model W?’_ Aile thought as another barrage of fireballs came to her, but they were bigger than before. Aile ducked out of the way and let the fireballs hit the wall behind her.

Aile tried to move as rocks started falling onto her, but her leg was stuck under a big rock. Fistleo walked over to the struggling Guardian and chuckled.

“Is that the real power of MegaMan? You can’t even deal that much damage on me!” Fistleo extended his hand at her and his palm started to glow. “Now, let’s end this pointless fight! Ragnarok Blast!”

Fistleo sent out a magenta colored flame from his palm at Aile. The magenta flame burned the rocks until nothing but ash left. Fistleo smiled at satisfaction before he fell to his knees as he was worn out completely.

“I figured it out that Ragnarok Blast had used up your energy.” Fistleo turned to the source of the voice and saw Aile standing there with her armor a bit damaged due to the fight.

“W-What!? Impossible! That Ragnarok Blast should have killed you!” Fistleo stood up and faced Aile, but he fell back down. “Ugh… My body… it’s so heavy…”

“That attack move was very similar to the one that I had seen before. Hivolt had the move called Ragnarok Laser and it was about to be used against us until Omega stopped him. I noticed that he became weaker after he released the laser on Omega, so I figured that the move had used up most of your powers.” Aile explained as Fistleo just looked at her in disbelief before he smiled.

“It’s no use even if you figured that out. My Lord will soon rule the world and you’ll be finished for opposing him!” Fistleo replied before he fell back down. “My job is done… we only need some more time for Lord Weil to recover…” Fistleo’s body began to glow before he exploded.

Aile was panting heavily as she was exhausted because of the battle. She transformed back to her human form and tried contacting Prairie again. “Prairie, I’m done in here. Could you transfer me back to the base?” Aile waited a bit before she glowed and was transferred back to the base.


	18. A Mystery behind the Remains

**_-Flashback-_ **

_“Grey, I’m assigning you to check Area N where Vent fought Omega before. I’ve been picking up a strange signal similar to a Biometal’s signal.” Prairie said._

_“There’s a Biometal there!?” Grey asked._

_“I’m not sure, but the reading is similar to a Biometal.” Prairie answered._

**_-End of Flashback-_ **

Grey found himself in a room filled with fallen rocks and the sky was visible when he looked up.

“What a mess… I wonder how strong Omega is now if he had destroyed this entire room before…” Grey scanned the whole room, but he only saw rocks and nothing else. “I think it’d be better if I remove those rocks first before I start looking for clues…”

Grey lifted the rock in front of him and put it on the side of the room. When he turned back to the rocks, he saw Mavericks entered the room with their weapons pointed at him. Grey pulled out his Biometal to defend himself.

“ROCK ON!” Grey transformed and shot at the Mavericks. He ran closer to the remaining ones and used his Homing Shot to destroy them at once, but more and more Mavericks entered the room.

“Man, this is endless!” Grey complained.

“Lower your weapons!” The Mavericks lowered their weapons as their leader went into the room.

“W-Who are you?” Grey asked.

“I am Purprill the Mandroid! What kind of bussiness do you have here?” Purprill asked.

“It’s none of your business! Can you leave please!?” Grey replied angrily.

“You dare to talk to me like that, Chosen One? I won’t forgive you! I am the great Purprill, one of the executives of Lord Weil and I will crush you with my own hands!” Purprill took one of the big rocks in the room and crushed it into sand, throwing it at Grey.

Grey was caught off guard and the sand got him. He rubbed his eyes as some of it got into his eyes, not noticing that Purprill had climbed the wall behind him. Purprill threw a small purple bomb at him and it exploded on his back.

Grey saw that Purprill had already hopped off the wall and was charging at him. He pulled one of his guns and aimed at his head, sending a Homing Shot at him. The shot managed to stop Purprill from charging at him, but it didn’t do much damage.

Grey pulled out his other gun and charged it, but Purprill turned into a giant Frisbee and knocked the gun from Grey’s hand. Purprill hit the wall as a Frisbee and sent a shower of rocks at Grey. Grey picked up his gun and moved out of the way in time. He shot at Purprill, but it bounced off him.

Purprill turned back to his ape form and threw a big metal ball at him. Grey dodged out of the way, but the ball bounced off the wall and hit him on the back before exploding. Grey stood back up slowly and noticed that Purprill threw another bomb at him.

Grey quickly moved away from the bomb, but didn’t notice that Purprill had appeared behind him. Before he could react, Purprill had hit him with a big metal ball and sent him to the wall. He threw the ball and exploded on the rocks beside Grey, causing dust to cover the whole room.

After the dust had cleared up, Purprill saw that Grey was nowhere to be seen. He smiled evilly before he walked out of the room. Suddenly, he felt something hit him on the back and turned around. He saw Grey pointing one of his guns at him, panting heavily.

“I see that you can still stand up, but not for long!” Purprill threw another bomb at Grey, but Grey quickly shot it and it exploded in the air. “Fine then! I’ll play with you again!”

Purprill turned into a Frisbee again and started moving zigzag across the room. Grey quickly ducked as Purprill came to him. When he had hit the wall, Grey quickly dashed under him and morphed into Atlas.

She shot upwards at Purprill and dashed away when he came back down. She morphed back to Grey and he pointed both of his guns at Purprill. He ran closer to him and jumped, sending him rapid fire shots from his guns.

“GIGA CRUSH!!!”

Purprill took all the hit, but wasn’t damaged very badly. Grey landed back on the ground and started panting again as the last attack had worn him out. Purprill’s arm started to glow and he charged at Grey.

“Take this! Ragnarok Fist!” Purprill punched Grey right on the gut, sending him to the pile of rocks.

Grey got up slowly and saw that Purprill was panting heavily. _‘Now’s my chance!’_ Grey charged his gum and sent a big blue charged shot at him, straight at the neck.

“NOOO!!! How… I’m supposed to be stronger than ever…!” Purprill’s body glowed for a moment before he exploded.

Grey fell to his knees and was panting heavily. He reverted back to the human form as he had already taken too much damage. He looked up and saw something shining in the corner of the room, between the piles of rocks.

Grey slowly dragged his feet to the corner of the room to look closer at the shining object. It was actually a small blue crystal, shining brightly reflecting the sunlight. He carefully took the crystal, but it was stuck in a rock that was as big as a Biometal.

The rock had a strange shape as it looks like a head with some strange patterns in the front, where the crystal was stuck. He looked closer at it and heard something in his mind.

_‘Kill them…’_

Grey was startled by the voice and dropped the rock. “H-Huh? Who said that!?” Grey looked at the rock again and the crystal was shining again on its own. “That’s strange… I’d better take it back to Commander Prairie for some analysis.”

Grey walked over to the rock and picked it up before he teleported out of the room, going back to the base.


	19. The Secret of Model W

**_-Flashback-_ **

_“I’m assigning you back to Ouroboros crash site. We might find out something about Weil and the Model Ws.” Prairie said._

**_-End of Flashback-_ **

Ashe already had her mini oxygen tank in her pocket as he approached the remains of Ouroboros. Some of the parts were missing, and she saw a small blue penguin like reploid blocking her from the remains.

“Excuse me, you’re in my way. I have to do some investigation here.” Ashe said as the blue reploid turned to her.

“How rude! I won’t leave, but you should to learn some manners!” the blue reploid turned away, irritating Ashe.

“Hey, you’re talking to a top class Hunter here! Move out of the way so I don’t have to do this the hard way!” Ashe replied angrily.

“You’re the one who don’t know whom you’re talking to!” the blue reploid revealed a thick lure behind her and something came out below her. Ashe stared at her in surprise as a big blue fish like body came out of the ground. “I am Lurerre, an executive of Lord Weil! I was given an order to dispose of the pests who dare to come here.”

“Pests!? That’s it!” Ashe replied angrily and pulled out her Biometal. “ROCK ON!”

“Oh, a Chosen One? Well then, I’ll surely be promoted after I take your head to Lord Weil!” Lurerre commented before she was shot on her small head.

“That’s for calling me a pest!” Lurerre looked down at Ashe, who had one of her guns pointed at her.

“Very well… But I’m not letting you interrupt the poor Lord Weil’s plans!” Lurerre shot out a few ice spikes at Ashe, but she could dodge it easily.

Ashe dashed closer to the fish like body and aimed her gun at it. She sent a Homing Shot, but it bounced off the body. The big body suddenly moved closer to Ashe with its mouth opened wide. Ashe noticed it and dashed away quickly. She saw that its mouth was still opened and shot its mouth.

The big body closed its mouth and the shot hit the hard body and bounced off again. She charged her gun again and aimed at the smaller body, but it dodged out of the way easily.

_‘Is there a way to hit her even without catching her off guard!?’_ Ashe thought angrily as her attacks had no effect on her. _‘Alright, I’ll try morphing into Thetis!’_

Ashe morphed into Thetis and he swam closer to the smaller body. He swung his staff at the lure, but it wasn’t damaged at all. Lurerre shot out more ice spikes and one of them hit his arm, freezing it. Thetis morphed back to Ashe, but her hand was still frozen.

She used her other gun and shot the iceberg from her arm, breaking it free. Ashe shot the smaller body repeatedly, but she dodged the shots easily. Suddenly she noticed that the bigger body had opened its mouth and there was a yellow colored missile there.

Ashe charged her gun and shot the missile, making it explode in its mouth as it closed its mouth again. _‘Bingo!’_ Ashe smiled slyly. Lurrere’s smaller body shot out a spiky ice balls above Ashe and they sank to the bottom, creating bigger spiky ice balls as they land.

Ashe shot the ice balls out of the way and saw that the bigger body had already had another missile in its mouth. Ashe charged her gun and shot at the missile, exploding it inside its mouth again. Ashe paid attention as the bigger body opened its mouth again, but didn’t notice that an ice spike was heading towards her.

The ice spike hit her shoulder and created another iceberg on it. Ashe shot the iceberg again, but she didn’t notice that Lurerre’s small body had swum lower and fired a thick piece of ice along with a laser. Ashe was knocked down by the ice and laser, but she got up again.

Lurrere’s small body swam higher and formed a small whirlpool in front of her. Ashe was pulled by the whirlpool and the bigger body suddenly opened its mouth charged at her. Luckily, she had dashed quickly enough and dodged but she was only a few inches to being crushed by the bigger body.

“Are you sure that you’re actually a Chosen One? You could only damage me a little because of those missiles!” Lurerre commented.

“I’m not using my full power yet!” Ashe lied as she put her guns in front of her. She jumped closer to the smaller body and aimed them at her. “GIGA CRUSH!!!”

Ashe shot Lurerre’s small body wildly, but she didn’t seem to have taken much damage. “Is that all?” Ashe landed back on the ground and looked at Lurerre tiredly, but was unable to argue. “Fine then, I’ll just finish you off!”

The bigger body opened up his mouth again with a missile inside, but this time it was red colored instead of yellow. Ashe charged her gun and shot the missile, but it bounced off. _‘What!?’_

“Say goodbye, not so Chosen One! Ragnarok Missile!” Lurerre said as her bigger body launched the missile.

Ashe jumped out of the way, but the missile was a really long one. She thought for a second before she smiled slyly as she got an idea. Ashe transformed back to her human form and floated towards the surface as the missile passed below her.

After the missile had passed her, she transformed back and went back down. Suddenly, the missile exploded and caused a strong shockwave which knocked out Ashe. When looked up, she saw that Lurerre’s lure that connected her smaller body with the bigger one had cracked and she looked more lifeless.

Ashe took the chance and charged her gun. She shot her at the head, followed by a Homing Shot.

“Ah… my job is finished here… We’ve got all the parts… to revive Lord Weil… The red orbs from every Model W… contain his memories… to complete his new soul…” Lurerre’s smaller and bigger body glowed and exploded.

The explosion had consumed the remains of Ouroboros there, leaving no traces at all. Ashe transformed back to human form and looked at the direction the remains used to be with a frown.

“Oh great! Now I’m worn out and I don’t know anything!” Ashe complained and Model A floated in front of her.

_“It’s okay, Ashe… But we did learn something! Lurerre said that the red orbs from every Model W contain his memories, but unfortunately they already have all of them.”_ Model A said.

“Yeah, and that’s our main problem!” Ashe replied with an annoyed tone. “Come on, let’s just go back to the base… we don’t have anything else to do here…”

Model A floated back to her pocket and Ashe teleported back to the Guardian Base.

Meanwhile in a place far from the crash site, a figure could be seen in a room and inside a big green tank filled with some strange liquid. Another figure suddenly entered the room, but still remained behind the shadows.

“You wanted to see me, my Lord?”

“Yes… is everything set according to my plan?”

The figure revealed himself to be Omega with an evil smile on his face. “Things have gone smoothly, just like you have planned…”

“Good… now, you are dismissed…”

Omega left the room with his evil smile still on his face. “Let’s just see if you can defeat me with your new power, Chosen One…” Omega whispered before he walked away from the door with an evil laughter.


	20. The Truth

**_-Flashback-_ **

_Ashe went into the Control Room and found that Aile and Grey had already been waiting inside. She also saw Prairie typing something on the computer and a piece of rock was sitting beside her._

_“Hi Ashe, what’s with the sad face?” Aile asked._

_“Lurerre had destroyed the whole thing before I could even investigate…” Ashe answered before she sighed sadly._

_“What? Lurerre too?” Aile asked. “Then the other three might show up soon…”_

_“I’m afraid so… The analysis of the data disk and the strange rock might take a whole day, so you should take a day off while waiting.” Prairie said without turning away from the computer._

_The three of them went out of the room as Ashe and Grey went to the transerver room. Aile noticed them and stopped walking._

_“Going back to the camp already?” Aile asked._

_“Yeah, we don’t have much to do here anymore… I’ll see you later, Aile!” Ashe waved at Aile as she waved back._

**_-End of Flashback-_ **

It was the middle of the day already, but Aile hadn’t got called by Prairie. She was walking from the medic wing to her room as she had already visited Vent. All of his organs had functioned properly, so he might wake up soon. Aile sighed before she opened the door to her room, but startled by the suddenly announcement.

“Aile, please come to the Control Room.” The voice from the speaker said.

Aile closed the door back and headed towards the elevator again to the Control Room. When she entered the room, she saw that Ashe and Grey were also inside.

“You’re here too?” Aile asked. Before Ashe could answer, Prairie had turned to them and cut the conversation.

“I’ve analyzed the data disk and Fleuve had done some research on that strange rock. The strange rock is actually a Biometal, Biometal Model O.” Prairie started.

“A Biometal!? But the shape doesn’t look like a Biometal!” Grey protested.

“It might not look like a Biometal from the outside, but it actually is a Biometal. It contains Omega’s power, but we still don’t know what it was doing in Area N and who created it.” Prairie continued.

“Omega’s power… so that voice I heard in my mind… was Omega’s?” Grey asked as Prairie nodded.

“It seems like it. The data disk that Aile had found yesterday was actually a part of Sis’ research data about Omega and Weil. I’m sure that it was purposely placed there, but I don’t know why. I’ll replay the data disk now.” Prairie pressed a button and a screen materialized in front of the three.

_Omega used to be a giant reploid and was used in the Elf Wars hundreds of years ago, but he was defeated by the legendary heroes. His body was damaged heavily and was floating aimlessly in space, until someone called Dr. Weil found him and decided to rebuilt his body._

_Years later, Omega had found one of the legendary heroes who had defeated him. He wanted revenge, but he was beaten again. Dr. Weil experimented on him again by using the Dark Elf and moved his memories to the legendary hero’s original reploid body._

_Omega had his old skills and was evenly matched to the legendary hero, but he was beaten with the help of the remaining three of the Four Guardians. Ever since then, Omega and the guardians had never been seen again._

“Omega… had the legendary hero’s original body? But why is he going after Vent?” Aile asked.

“I suppose it’s because Vent had the ‘original copy’ of him, the real Model Z. That legendary hero’s soul is within the original Model Z, even though both of the Biometals have the same power and ability.” Prairie explained as the Control Room door slid open and Muguet came in.

“Commander Prairie, Vent has woken up! He’s fine, but he might not be able to fight for a while.” Muguet said before she dodged to the side as the three of them ran out of the room and headed towards the medic wing.

They went into the room with excitement and saw Vent sat up on his bed. “Guys…?”

“VENT!!!” the three of them exclaimed loudly as Vent smiled at them.

“It’s nice to see you guys again… How long have I been unconscious anyway?” Vent asked.

“Actually, it has been more than a week…” Aile replied before she hugged him. “I’m so glad that you’re okay…”

The medic wing door suddenly slid open and Prairie came in. “It’s good to see that you’re okay. Your friends are really worried about you, especially Aile. She had been visiting you everyday for the past week.”

“Really?” Vent turned to Aile as she blushed.

“Y-Yeah… I was hoping that you would wake up soon…” Aile replied.

“Since Vent’s awake now, I have something important to tell him. Can you three wait outside for a bit?” Prairie asked.

“Okay, but I think I’m going to get something for lunch. Come on, let’s go to the cafeteria!” Ashe said cheerfully before they left the room.

Hours had passed and it was nighttime already. The Hunters had gone back to the camp and the Guardians had already in their rooms. Vent couldn’t sleep after what Prairie had told him that afternoon.

**_-Flashback-_ **

_“I’m sorry Vent, but I know how you would react to this. Omega is going after you, and only you to get his revenge. I don’t have any other choice but to pull you back because of your health.” Prairie explained._

_“I know I can do this! The Peudoroids might not be our allies, but he can’t just kill them because they disobeyed an order!” Vent yelled angrily._

_“I’m sorry Vent, but it’s better that I let Aile and the Hunters to handle this situation.” Prairie said before she left the room, leaving the frustrated Vent in the room._

**_-End of Flashback-_ **

Vent curled his hand into fists before he slowly got off from his bed. He carefully walked out of the room and headed towards the elevator. He went down to Fleuve’s lab, where his Biometals were usually kept. He snuck inside without being caught by the guards and saw that there were three Biometals.

He picked up the two Biometals on the left side and pocketed them before he turned on Fleuve’s computer. He typed a few things on the computer and a screen popped up.

“Area O… Okay, got it!” Vent whispered before he shut down the computer. He left the lab and went to the transerver room. He looked around the room before he was transferred to the area.

_‘I’m sorry everyone… but I’ll take down Omega on my own…’_ Vent thought before he disappeared from the room.


	21. The Power Within

The next morning, Aile was woken up by the sound of knocking on her door. She walked over to the door and opened it to see Prairie there.

“Prairie, what happened?” Aile asked.

“Aile… Vent is missing! I’ve searched the whole base but I don’t see him anywhere!” Prairie said as Aile became worried. “Aile, I’ll try and track him down through the computer in the Control Room.”

“I’ll go with you!” Aile said as both of them ran to the Control Room.

Meanwhile in Area O, Vent was standing in front of an old skyscraper. “This is it… I’ll take Omega down along with his hideout!” Vent ran inside the building and went up the elevator.

The elevator stopped on the top floor and he was in a long dark corridor. He walked through the corridor and saw a door at the end of it. He paused for a moment and looked at the door.

_‘Behind this door… Omega is waiting… I have to be ready!’_ Vent thought before he opened the door. He went inside and saw Omega sitting on his throne. “Omega!”

Omega grinned evilly and looked at Vent with his usual cold eyes. “Well, well, well, it looks like the ‘original copy’ has arrived…”

“I’m nothing like you!” Vent protested angrily.

“In some ways we are similar, but in other ways we aren’t. You have the real Model Z, the copy of me. That Biometal is the most special one because its DNA would fuse permanently with the user. You have that faker’s DNA and power, so that’s why I wanted to do a little payback for what you had done to me for centuries!” Omega slammed his fist onto the arm of his throne.

“My DNA… was fused…” Vent looked at Omega with surprise.

“Yes… and I’ve set this whole thing from the start! I didn’t use my full power against you to test out how much stronger you’ve become.” Omega said with a sly grin.

“No… you didn’t…” Vent was still looking at Omega with disbelief.

“Don’t be too confident with yourself after beating me last time! Lord Weil had given me more power after he had rebuilt me with the power of Model W… or formerly Ragnarok… I’m doing this to return the favor!” Omega explained.

“Ragnarok… then could it be that the Pseudoroids were back the same way as Omega?” Vent said to himself.

“It looks like you’re pretty smart to figure it all out… But those pawns have no use for us now! We already have all the parts of Lord Weil’s memories, so we only need some more time for his new mechanical body to be recharged.” Omega pressed a button on the arm of his throne and water poured out into the room.

“W-What!?” Vent pulled his mini oxygen tank before the water had filled the whole room. “Don’t expect to kill me by flooding the whole room!”

“Kill you? Hmph… such a naïve boy… It’s you who would do the killing now!” as Omega finished his sentence, Leganchor, Flammole, and Protectos appeared in the flooded room. “I’m just going to watch as you finished off these worthless pawns with your new power!”

“What are you talking about!?” Vent yelled angrily as Omega chuckled. He glared at Omega before he pulled out his Biometals, but he didn’t notice that he took the wrong one. “ROCK ON!”

Vent transformed, but his armor was darker red similar to Omega instead of the usual red. “W-What’s this…? GRAAAHHH!!!!” Vent held his head in pain as purple electricity surrounded his entire body.

Omega chuckled as he saw the electricity over Vent’s body disappeared. “Meet your prey, Mega Man Model OX!”

The three Pseudoroids were surprised to see Vent’s white and emotionless eyes after he had transformed. Leganchor summoned his ice dragons at Vent, but he pulled out his purple saber and cut the ice dragons to pieces.

Flammole extended his arm and sent out a flamethrower at Vent, but he didn’t dodge out of the way. After the fire was out, Vent was still standing there with some burn marks but his eyes didn’t show any pain.

Protectos threw out some small bombs at Vent, but he pulled out his dark grey OX buster and shot the bombs, explodidng them in the air. Protectos was annoyed and launched a missile straight at him. The missile exploded on Vent, but he was still standing there with some smoke all over his body but his eyes still hadn’t shown any pain.

Vent suddenly disappeared and reappeared right in front of Leganchor, catching him off guard. He swung the purple saber and easily cut him into half. Leganchor exploded and the remaining two Pseudoroids watched in disbelief.

“You’re next…” Vent’s voice was darker and pointed his saber at Flammole.

Flammole saw Vent pointing his saber at him and jumped to dig his way to the underground. Before he could even dig through, he felt that his body was cut into half in mid air when he jumped. The Moleroid exploded and Vent turned to Protectos.

Omega smiled as he watched the battle. Everything was set according to plan and that battle could buy enough time for Weil’s mechanical body to be fully recharged. He watched as Protectos was sliced to half easily, despite of his thick and hard armor.

Omega chuckled at sight and drained the water from the whole room as the remaining three Pseudoroids had already been destroyed. Vent’s white eyes regained their green color back and Vent reverted back to human form.

Vent collapsed on the ground as soon as he reverted back to human form. He was panting heavily and was holding back the pain on his body after the battle. He took most of the hits even though his body couldn’t hold them.

“Already at your limit, Chosen One? I’m just getting started to have some fun. I demand another rematch with you, but I’ll use my full power this time!” Omega stood up from his throne. “Make sure that you have that rage controlling you if you want to win!”

“Not again… Omega… I refuse…” Vent stood up slowly, but he fell back to his knees.

“Fine… but that’s not your choice to make!” Omega said as Model O floated in front of Vent and shone brightly.

“AAARRRGGGHHH!!!” Vent’s body glowed and he transformed back to his OX form.


	22. Last Rematch

Vent looked at Omega with his white emotionless eyes. Omega was satisfied with the trap he had laid for Vent and his friends. He pulled out his purple saber as Vent pulled out his.

“Let me tell you one thing first. Your heroic acts to take that Albert down and going after Model W core had actually given me an advantage. My Cyber Elf form was trapped inside the seal, but you had opened the seal with the passwords from Biometals.” Omega explained as Vent just stood there like a statue.

“After the Ouroboros crashed and destroyed the some of the Model Ws, Lord Weil’s soul was freed from the Model W core. He took a body of a dead reploid to find me and rebuild my body. In return, I had to help him make a new body for him. With that, our plan to get our revenge started. He modified your dream to be so real, so the hit you took in that ‘nightmare’ of yours really hurt your body.” Omega stopped as Vent suddenly charged at him.

“Slow down kid…” Omega blocked Vent’s saber easily with his. “I didn’t say the battle had started yet…” Omega looked at him as Vent’s emotionless eyes stared at him. “Fine then, I’ll start the battle!”

Omega pushed Vent back with his saber, but Vent charged back at him. Omega slammed his saber and rocks fell down on top of Vent, but he cut them to pieces with very little effort. Omega pulled his buster and shot two charged shot at him before he followed them up with a wide sonic boom.

Vent blocked the charged shots with his saber, but he took the hit from the sonic boom. Vent still hadn’t showed any signs of pain and charged at Omega again. He slammed at Omega on the head with his charged saber, but Omega had quickly blocked it. Omega tried pushing him back, but he heard a cracking sound.

Vent’s saber had cracked because of the strong pushes between him and Omega. Omega took this chance and tried swinging his saber, making the crack on Vent’s saber worse.

_‘Even though he only had the copy of my powers in that Biometal, he’s still stronger than I thought he would!’_ Omega dodged another swing from Vent’s saber and pulled out his buster.

The charged shot managed to push him back, but Vent had stood up again and pulled out his buster. He sent a charged shot at Omega, but Omega had already sent another charged shot to his direction. The charged shot collided in mid air and caused a big explosion.

After the smoke had cleared up, both of them were still standing as if they hadn’t taken any damages yet. Vent, even in OX form hadn’t landed a successful hit on Omega. Meanwhile, his own armor had cracked a bit, but not as bad as his saber.

Vent’s eyes suddenly regained their green color, but Vent was still in OX form. He put a hand over the cracked armor, where the sonic boom had hit. “Urgh… stop this… Omega…”

“So you can still return to your old self…” Omega saw that electricity started coming out from Vent’s body. He saw Vent stood up again and looked at him with emotionless eyes again. Omega smiled evilly and charged at Vent quickly, with his saber ready.

Vent pulled out his saber to block Omega’s incoming saber and clashed it with his. Omega jumped back and pulled back his saber before he slammed his hand on the ground. Blue energy shots came out from the ground and the top of the room, landing fatal hits on Vent.

“I’m not done yet!” Omega dashed at Vent with high speed and slashed him with the 7 hit combo. He slashed his helmet, shoulders, chest, stomach, and legs, destroying the armor that covered them.

Vent had already taken a lot of damage, but he was still standing with his emotionless eyes staring at Omega. Vent pulled his buster as Omega had charged at him again. He sent multiple charged shots at his head and knocked him back.

Omega’s face was covered with smoke because of the shots. After the smoke had cleared up, Omega glared at Vent angrily.

“I’m not losing to you again! A cheap copy of me must never win from me, the original!” Omega charged again at Vent with his saber pointed at him.

Omega suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Vent. He did an uppercut slash, damaging his back armor. Vent turned around tried clashing his saber with Omega’s, but Omega had withdrawn the saber and Vent ended up slashing Omega’s chest a bit.

Omega pulled out his buster and sent multiple charged shots at Vent in close range, making him pushed back a few meters back. Omega pulled out his saber again and jumped high up. He did a rolling slash in the air, sending a few small sonic booms at Vent.

Omega landed back on the ground and was panting heavily. He saw that Vent hadn’t shown any signs of tiredness or pain. Most of Vent’s dark red armor had already been torn apart by Omega, but he was still standing. Drips of blood started falling from his wounds and Omega smiled at the sight. He was ready to send the finishing blow.

Omega pulled out his saber again and his whole body started glowing with crimson color, along with his saber. He dashed at Vent with his saber in front of his body. A burning red aura started forming around him as he dashed towards Vent. “Finishing blow! CRIMSON CHARGE!!!”

As Omega came closer, Vent didn’t move away from his place. When Omega was getting closer, Vent sidestepped from the attack and swung his cracked saber with full power. The saber broke as it came in contact with Omega’s body, but it completely sliced Omega into half.

“B-But why… how… a cheap copy to beat me… the original one…” Omega’s body parts fell to the ground before he smiled evilly. “But Lord Weil… will surely get his revenge… He will… destroy you… faker…” Omega’s body glowed before he xploded, making the whole room shook violently.

Vent reverted to his human form and collapsed at the ground. Model O materialized in front of him, but it suddenly cracked and broke into pieces. Vent saw that the room was collapsing, but he couldn’t move his arms and legs.

_‘What happened…? Why can’t I move…?’_ Vent saw a blur of red and yellow before he lost consciousness.


	23. Final Stage Ahead!

_“Lord Weil… he will destroy you!” Omega’s voice echoed._

“Whoa!” Vent woke up suddenly and saw that he was in the medic wing again. “Huh? I’m in the medic wing again?”

The door slid open as Prairie and Aile came into the room.

“Vent! You’re awake!” Aile ran to Vent and hugged him. “It’s good to see you’re okay!”

“Aile… what happened? I really don’t remember anything after I met Omega in his hideout…” Vent asked.

“We tracked you through the Control Room’s computer to Area O. I sent Aile to get you back here and found you unconscious in the hideout with the rocks falling over you. It looks like you took Biometal Model O instead of Model Z.” Prairie explained.

“Model O… Maybe it had caused me to lose control before so I don’t remember much about my battle with him. But what happened to Omega and Model O?” Vent asked.

“Omega was nowhere to be seen and as for the Biometal, maybe it was destroyed in battle because I didn’t see anything other than rocks around you when I came to help you.” Aile replied, but noticed the sad look on Vent. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I remember… Omega said that I had the original Model Z, whose DNA had fused permanently with mine. He said that it was the reason why he went after me…” Vent held his blanket tighter. “But… I’m not going to be a killer like him!”

“I know… I always believe that my boyfriend would never be a killer…” Aile said with a smile.

“Thanks Aile… By the way, how long have I been unconscious?” Vent asked.

“Only for two days, but your wounds healed up really fast. In the past two days, Dr. Weil had also made his move by sending an army of Mavericks to attack the residential place.” Prairie explained.

“What!? We have to get there now before it’s too late!” Vent tried getting up from his bed, but the pain on his whole body had pushed him back.

“No Vent, you must stay in bed! I’ll send Aile and the Hunters to infiltrate Dr. Weil’s hideout.” Prairie said.

“Let me fight, Prairie! It’s me that he wants!” Vent rejected.

Prarie paused for a while and saw that Vent’s eyes were full of determination. “Alright… but don’t push yourself too hard!”

“But Prarie… he’s still wounded!” Aile protested, but Vent put a hand on her shoulder and she turned around.

“Believe in me, Aile! We will make it back here alive!” Vent looked at her with determination.

Aile looked at him for a second before she smiled. “Okay… I believe in you… Come on, let’s meet up with Ashe and Grey in the Control Room!”

The three of them left the medic wing and headed towards the elevator. Aile had to help Vent a little as his legs were still hurt. They went inside the Control Room and found the Hunters there.

“Okay, everyone’s here now. Dr. Weil had launched a huge army to the residential area, but it looks like there are some other Mega Men who had helped repelling the army.” Prairie pressed a button and four screens materialized in front of them.

On the first screen, they saw Atlas blasting away the Maverick that was taunting a little girl. On the second one, Aeolus had just cut off a Galleon’s head. On the third one, Thetis was shown shooting out his ice dragon at the small rat Mechaloids. On the last one, it was shown that Siarnaq had just destroyed a King Flier with his shuriken attack.

“Those four… Atlas, Aeolus, Thetis, and Siarnaq? The four Mega Men that Ashe and I had beaten before!” Grey exclaimed as the screens disappeared.

“Yes, I guess it is time to go into Dr. Weil’s hideout. I’ve found that he is in the old Slither Inc. building. I still don’t know how he comes back to life…” Prairie said.

“Wait, I think I know something about that! Lurerre said that the red orbs from the Model Ws contain his memories, and they had collected all of them.” Ashe explained as the others suddenly turned to her. “What?”

“You should have mentioned that before… but at least it’s not too late…” Grey commented.

“I see… Okay, you can head out to Area D now. Please come back alive, okay?” Prairie said as the four of them saluted before leaving the Control Room.

They headed straight towards the transerver room and they were transferred to the front gate of Slither Inc. The building was heavily damaged because of the battle Vent and Aile had with Serpent three years before. The four of them entered the building and saw that there were Mavericks everywhere.

“ROCK ON!” the four of them yelled and transformed.

Aile pulled out her ZX buster and fired a charged shot at an incoming Maverick. Vent pulled out his ZX saber and sent a wide horizontal slash at the Mavericks. Ashe and Grey put one of their guns and fired Homing Shots at the Mavericks.

They had taken a lot of Mavericks, but more of them just kept coming. Their number hadn’t decreased that much even though they had taken down at least a hundred of them.

“This is endless! How are supposed to get through?” Vent complained. Ashe and Grey suddenly stopped shooting and looked at each other before they nodded.

“Vent! Aile! We’ll take care of them here! I’ll create an opening for you to get through!” Ashe ordered.

Grey pointed his other gun at another door and fired a charged shot. The Mavericks that was hit exploded, creating a small path that headed towards the door.

“Quick! Go to the top! We’ll catch up with you later!” Grey said without turning his head from the Mavericks.

“Thanks guys!” Vent said before he and Aile dashed to the door. After the couple had entered the door, the Mavericks blocked it. Ashe and Grey were surrounded by Mavericks, but they had already worn out from fighting off the Mavericks endlessly.

“Ashe, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Grey asked while panting.

“Yeah, it looks like we don’t have any other choice!” Ashe replied, also panting.

They both jumped and were facing opposite directions. They put both of their guns in front of them, holding them tightly. “DOUBLE GIGA CRUSH!!!” They fired out rapid fire shots, aimed at everywhere in the room and hit the entire Mavericks in the room.

Meanwhile, Vent and Aile had already taken the elevator to the topmost floor where they had fought Serpent before. They went through the empty corridor and found a door on the left side at the end of the corridor.

They went inside and found a broken huge tank with green glass. They looked below the tank and saw more of the shattered green glass, along with some green colored liquid.

“Well, it has been centuries since the last time I got some uninvited guests…”

Vent and Aile turned to the source of the voice and saw and old man with a mechanical body and orange glass helmet which had some strange liquid in it.

“You… you must be Dr. Weil…” Vent said as he looked at the mad scientist in horror.


	24. Final Battle, ROCK ON!

“It looks like the Chosen Ones are here, as I expected…” Weil grinned evilly.

“W-What do you mean!?” Vent asked angrily.

“Like what Omega had said, your heroic acts had given us an advantage. Thanks to that fake Legion leader, my soul was trapped inside the core and my memories had been separated to many pieces.” Weil explained and looked up at the Chosen Ones.

“N-No way… The things we did… they all had caused more trouble?” Aile looked at the mad scientist in disbelief.

“You’re pretty smart, girl… But too bad that your brilliant brain won’t be able to save the world now!” Weil raised one of his hands to the air and some rocks appeared above them.

“Aile, look out!” Vent dashed quickly and pushed Aile away from the falling rocks. Unfortunately, one of the rocks had fallen on top of him and trapped his leg.

Vent pulled out his ZX buster and blasted the rock, but more of them were summoned above them. Before Vent could react, a few charged shots collided with them and destroyed them in mid air. Vent turned to Aile and saw that she had her ZX buster pointed at the direction the rocks used to be.

“It looks like we’re even!” Vent said with a smile. Aile turned to him and nodded.

Weil suddenly disappeared and a colorful orb replaced him in his position. Hivolt suddenly came down from the orb and dashed toward them, but they managed to dodge him. When they turned back to the orb, they saw Lurerre’s small body had launched two small ice spikes.

Aile was quickly enough to dash away from the attack, but Vent couldn’t move away in time and took the hit. When Aile was about to approach him, she was knocked back by Fistleo’s fireballs. When they were both down, Purprill came down and threw two small purple bombs at them.

Both Vent and Aile took the hit and the orb disappeared. Weil reappeared again and Vent quickly dashed towards him. He jumped to Weil’s level and slammed his charged saber at Weil’s head, but he suddenly disappeared again.

“What!?” Vent suddenly noticed that Weil had appeared behind him and shot him with his ZX buster, but Weil quickly disappeared again as the shot hit the wall instead.

Vent landed on the ground and saw that four Weils had appeared behind Aile. Aile noticed them and swung her ZX saber across the four figures, but stopped when she noticed something solid on the third Weil.

Weil quickly disappeared as the saber had pierced through his lower armor and reappeared above the two Chosen Ones. Six kunai blades appeared above them and were sent towards the ground. Aile dodged them narrowly, but Vent couldn’t move his legs and was hit on the leg.

_‘Not now… the wounds… they’re reopening!’_ Vent closed his eyes as held out the pain, not noticing that a few balls of electricity were sent towards him across the floor. The electricity balls hit him and he yelled out in pain.

“What’s this? Is this the real power that had managed to defeat Omega before?” Weil looked at Vent as Aile approached him. “The Chosen Ones aren’t so tough after all… Maybe those Pseudoroids I sent were actually really weak to be defeated by weaklings like you, although I’ve fused their old data with mine.”

“What do you mean…?” Vent asked as he tried getting up.

“They should have become more powerful with their new powers, but they were defeated by some kids!” Weil answered angrily before he summoned an array of blue balls.

The blue balls flew quickly towards them, but Vent quickly stood up in front of Aile and blocked the attack. Aile saw as he collapsed on the ground next to her with his reopened wounds and the wounds he took from that battle.

“I’m sorry Aile… but I don’t want to see you get hurt so badly…” Vent whispered weakly before he fainted.

“Vent…” Aile knelt beside him and saw that his armor had already had a lot of cracks. She closed her eyes before she stood up and faced Weil. _‘This is for you, Vent… Please hang in there! I love you too much to lose you!’_

“One down, so it’s a one on one battle now!” Weil said with an evil grin. “It looks like this battle is going to be easier!”

“Don’t underestimate me, Weil! I can’t forgive you for hurting my boyfriend, but I’m fighting to protect him along with my friends!” Aile pulled out her ZX buster again and sent some rapid shots at Weil.

Weil disappeared again with an evil laugh and appeared behind Aile, but she had already read his movements. As soon as Weil appeared behind her, she quickly swung her saber and sent some charged shots at him.

Weil was caught off guard and took all the hits, but he quickly summoned some green orbs around the battlefield. Aile watched as he absorbed the green orbs and his wounds started healing up. Aile noticed that he was recovering and shot the remaining green orbs.

After the green orbs had disappeared from the battlefield, Weil summoned more rocks above her. She noticed that some of the rocks were gold colored instead of the usual black ones. The black rocks fell to the ground around her, but the gold ones’ directions suddenly bent down in mid air and headed towards Aile.

Aile managed to dodge some of the gold rocks, but was hit by the two last ones. She was knocked back against the wall, but she could still get up as she wasn’t hit too hard. Aile saw an opening as Weil paused for a bit before he raised his hand to the air again.

Before more of the rocks could be summoned, Aile sent a few charged shots at him and knocked him back a few meters. Aile dashed quickly towards him and slammed her charged saber at Weil’s head. Weil had narrowly dodged the attack, but the saber hit his shoulder instead and cracked his armor.

Aile noticed that he was going to recover as green orbs appeared in the room. Aile quickly dashed and swung her saber to the nearest green orb before Weil could absorb it. Aile had destroyed most of the orbs as Weil had managed to absorb one of them.

“Nice try, but not good enough! Most of my powers when I fused with Ragnarok centuries ago had been restored, but it’s more than enough to beat you!” Weil said with an evil laugh.

“You may have more power than me, but I have my boyfriend who loves me and my friends who care about me! Those are the things that you’re lack at!” Aile replied and pointed her buster at Weil’s chest. “I don’t want to see more people suffer because of you… I don’t want to lose anyone else!”

Aile’s armor glowed as she shot out a powerful charged shot at him. The shot pierced through Weil’s armor over his chest and he fell down. Electricity suddenly covered his body as he tried getting up.

“You… even if you beat me now… I’ll always be back! Because I… am immortal!” Weil let out the last evil laugh before he exploded.

Aile was panting heavily as the last shot had worn her out completely. She dragged her feet towards Vent before she collapsed next to him. She turned to face him and smiled weakly before she put her hand over his. Aile had fainted next to Vent with a weak smile.

Suddenly, the door was blasted open and two figures came into the room.

“I still can’t believe that there was a secret door on the floor! We could have escaped from those Mavericks and those lovebirds instead!”

“Yeah! But the fight is over now! Come on, let’s take those two back to the Guardian Base!”

“Okay, okay! But you’re carrying Vent because you’re a guy!”

“What a dumb reason… Fine then…”

The two figures took Vent and Aile before the four of them left the room.


	25. Epilogue

Weeks had passed since Vent and Aile battled Weil. It was the start of winter already. Maverick attacks had decreased little by little after the defeat of Weil. Vent and Aile had fully recovered from their injuries and were able to do some missions and quests. Vent was the first one to wake up although he suffered more injuries than Aile.

It was such a snowy and cold morning, but Vent woke up earlier than usual. He had already travelled around the base while waiting for Aile to wake up, until he bumped with someone.

“Hey Vent!” the grey haired reploid greeted.

“Hi Grey! What brings you here this early?” Vent noticed that Grey was on his own. “Where’s Ashe? Well, not that I actually care about here anyway… I’m just asking…” Vent asked.

“She’s back in the camp. I have something to tell both you and Aile. Could you bring her to the cafeteria? I’ll be waiting there.” Grey said as Vent nodded.

Vent left and went to the elevator to Aile’s room. He was going to knock on her door, but the door suddenly slid open and revealed Aile there fully dressed.

“Morning Vent!” Aile greeted with a smile. “What’s up?”

“I met Grey when I was walking around the base. He said that he had something to tell us and he would be waiting in the cafeteria.” Vent replied.

“Alright, let’s go!” Aile took Vent’s hand and both of them took the elevator towards the cafeteria.

The Guardians walked towards the cafeteria and saw Grey sitting inside while holding a cup of tea. Grey saw them came in and smiled.

“Ashe asked me to tell you guys about an expedition for the top Hunters. We’re going to some ancient places, and we’ll be heading out tomorrow morning. They said that this expedition might take around two years before we come back to the camp.” Grey explained.

“Two years!? Wow, that’s a really long time…” Vent commented.

“Yeah, and Ashe is actually packing in the camp. She doesn’t want to leave any important things behind or she would ruin her reputation as a top Hunter. Well, that’s all that she said before.” Grey continued. “What are you guys going to do now?”

“I’m not sure… Vent, how about we take a walk in the city?” Aile turned to Vent as he nodded.

“Sure, that would be great!” Vent replied before he turned back to Grey. “Have fun in your expedition! I’m sure you two will get a lot more experience once we meet up again.”

“Thanks… I’ll see you again!” Grey waved before he stood up and left to the transerver room.

The two Guardians had their breakfast in the cafeteria first before they headed towards the city. They walked hand in hand along the snow covered streets in Area C. They walked while enjoying the snow to the forest area, but they didn’t notice that they had passed the area.

Aile looked up at the sky and frowned as the memories flooded back in her head. She saw the Ferris wheel, the place where her mother was killed. Vent noticed her sadly looking at the Ferris wheel and tried to cheer her up.

“I know that you’re still sad, but the incident 13 years ago was like a destiny for me.” Vent started as Aile turned to him angrily.

“How could you say that!? You know that our mothers were killed by those Mavericks!” Aile yelled angrily as tears started falling from her green eyes.

“Aile… if it wasn’t for our mothers, we wouldn’t have met each other.” Vent let go of her hand and put both of his hands on her shoulders. “We were destined to meet each other… and Boss…”

Aile looked at Vent as he smiled sadly. “Vent…”

“I used to be the one who wanted to get revenge for what the Mavericks had done to my mom, but now I know that getting revenge will only hurt myself even more. Revenge will never bring my mom back, but it will only make her sad.” Vent looked at Aile for a moment and noticed a bench behind her. Vent took her hand and led her to the bench.

“Aile… when I said I love you, I didn’t want to replace your mother’s love. I really love you as my girlfriend, and your mom will always love you as her beloved daughter.” Vent looked at Aile, who was looking at him with a surprised look on her face.

Aile stared at him for a moment before she smiled sadly. “Thanks Vent… I love you too, as my boyfriend.” Their faces were only a few inches apart, but Vent suddenly moved away.

“Wait! Are you sure that Grey and Ashe aren’t here, right?” Vent asked.

Aile sighed after seeing his reaction. Vent was looking around the empty amusement park, making sure the silver haired Hunters weren’t watching. Unnoticed by Vent, Aile had moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around Vent’s neck.

Vent was surprised to feel Aile’s arms around his neck. He turned around and Aile pressed her lips against his. Vent closed his eyes immediately and wrapped his arms around her waist. They both enjoyed their moments together as the snow covered the whole area. The sorrowful area and past had led them towards a happy moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The batch update here is done! Now on to the next ones!


End file.
